Jayhawks to Play Host to Horned Frogs Friday in Lawrence
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LAWRENCE, Kan. – The University of Kansas soccer team will continue its Big 12 slate when it welcomes the TCU Horned Frogs to Lawrence on Friday, Oct. 11. Both Kansas (5-6-2) and TCU (4-6-3) will both be looking for their first conference win of the season in the game that is slated to kick off at 4 p.m., inside the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Follow the Jayhawks
Fans will be able to listen to Friday’s match against the Horned Frogs by logging on to Jayhawk Digital Passport. Throughout 2013 fans can subscribe to Jayhawk Digital Passport in daily, monthly or yearly increments to listen to the play-by-play call of Josh Kurelac. Just go to www.KUAthletics.com/showcase to get your subscription. Fans can also get live updates by logging on to KU soccer’s live stats for up-to-the-minute statistics from every Jayhawk match. Go to www.sidearmstats.com/kansas/wsoc during every home game and enjoy. Don’t forget to follow on Twitter at @KUWSoccer for another great way to stay connected to KU Soccer.
Series History
Kansas will meet its relatively new conference foe, TCU, for just the second time in program history and the first time in Lawrence. Last season in the teams’ first meeting, Kansas pulled out a thrilling 3-2 double overtime victory over the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, the Jayhawks last conference win one the road.
About the Jayhawks
Kansas (5-6-2) is currently enduring a three-match winless streak after pulling out a draw at Iowa State and falling to Texas in Lawrence in the Jayhawks’ first weekend of league play. KU currently sits at 110 in the most recent NCAA PRI rankings, but will only play one team that is slotted lower on the national list over its final six matches, the TCU Horned Frogs this weekend, which gives the Jayhawks plenty of opportunities to bump up that rank before postseason play hits.
The Kansas offense has been somewhat stale of late, going scoreless in its first two conference games last weekend after putting in six goals in its previous three matches. The Jayhawks are still averaging the fifth most shots per game in the Big 12, tallying 15 per game, but have had issues with accuracy as they have only managed to get 7.5 percent of their shots to the back of the net. Senior Caroline Kastor leads the squad in both goals and assists, notching four and three, respectively. Junior Jamie Fletcher has put in the fourth-most shots among Big 12 players this season with 40.
The Kansas defense has been strong this season, allowing just over one opponent goal per game. The Jayhawk defense has stepped it up when playing out home though, giving up .83 goals per match in Lawrence. Goalkeeper Kaitlyn Stroud has played in goal for every minute of KU’s season thus far and tallied her fourth shutout of the year in Kansas’ draw with Iowa State last Friday. She is second among Big 12 goalkeepers in saves with 62 on the year, just 12 off her career best in a season. The junior is boasting a 1.12 goals against average as well as a .805 save percentage.
Scouting the Horned Frogs
TCU (4-6-3), like KU is coming off a loss-draw weekend after falling to No. 14 Texas Tech Friday before salvaging a draw with Oklahoma State Sunday. The Horned Frogs have been held scoreless through its first three matches of league play. Kansas and TCU have had three common opponents so far in 2013, Illinois State, Arkansas and Texas with both teams going 1-2-0 in those games.
TCU has scored 14 goals on the year and is tallying 12.5 shots per match. The Horned Frogs are led by Michelle Prokof and Makenzie Koch, both of whom have combined for 26 of the teams 43 points this year. Prokof has six goals on the year while Koch as tallied five assists.
The TCU defense is giving up 1.38 opponent goals per match this season which includes two shutouts in 13 games played this year. Opposing shooters are getting just over 40 percent of their attempts on frame versus TCU. Goalkeeper Vittoria Arnold has appeared in 10 of her team’s games this year, boasts a .725 save percentage, a 1.39 goals against average and has made 37 saves in 2013.
Eric Bell is in his second year as the head coach of the TCU women’s soccer program. In his first 34 matches in Fort Worth has amassed a record of 11-16-7 and helped lead the Horned Frogs to the Big 12 Championship game a year ago.
This Day in KU Soccer History
Oct. 11, 2002 – The Jayhawks notched a dominant conference win over Oklahoma State, downing the Cowgirls 6-0 for its ninth win of 2002. Then-freshman and current KU assistant coach Jessica Smith tallied her first-career multi-goal match with a pair of goals in the first half and added an assist while the Jayhawks outshot Oklahoma State 21-2. The match remains Kansas’ largest margin of victory over a Big 12 opponent in the Mark Francis era.
(KU All-Time Record on Oct. 11: 1-2-0)
Getting Defensive
Kansas is currently seeing one of its most prolific scoring defense stretches in program history as the Jayhawks have allowed just 35 goals over its last 30 matches. The mark is KU’s lowest in a 30-game span since the Sept. 11, 2005-Oct. 22, 2006 streak when the team let in 32 goals in 30 games. Kansas’ best defensive run came between Oct. 26, 2003-Nov. 14, 2004 when those squads only gave up 17 opponent goals in its previous 30 matches.
Stroud Seeing Career Year
KU’s junior goalkeeper is seeing the most efficient year of her career this season and is on career-high pace in nearly every statistical category including goals allowed average, wins, shutouts and saves. She has already moved to fifth on KU’s all-time saves chart with her 62 stops on the year and needs only two more wins to move into fourth all-time among KU goalkeepers. Her 62 saves so far this year are the second-most by a KU keeper after 13 games since 2000, giving her a good chance to move high up on the single-season saves list come year’s end.
Odds and Ends
- Over its last 37 games, Kansas is 17-3-4 when scoring at least one goal, including a 5-1-1 mark this season.
- Kansas’ four shutouts this year are the program’s most through 13 games since 2010.
- KU has already amassed seven yellows in 13 games this season after earning just one caution in 20 games last year.
- When KU and TCU square off on Friday, it will be a battle between the Big 12’s only two remaining teams that have yet to score in conference play.
- Senior Caroline Kastor needs just three more goals to pass Rachel Gilfillan (2001-04) to sit alone at No. 2 on Kansas’ all-time goal scoring charts.
- Last weekend’s draw versus Iowa State was the first tie versus a regular-season conference opponent since KU’s 0-0 tie versus Oklahoma on Oct. 12, 2008.
- Head coach Mark Francis needs just six more victories to hit 200 for his collegiate coaching career.
- KU is currently enduring a scoreless stretch of 217:49, its second goalless streak over 200 minutes this season.
First to Score, Wins Galore
Over its past 33 games dating back to the beginning of the 2012 season, Kansas has developed an interesting trend when it comes to which team tallies the first goal of the match. During that 33-game span, the Jayhawks have been on the losing end only once in the games which they have put in the match’s first score. Kansas has amassed a record of 15-1-2 in those games. On the flip side, KU hasn’t been quite as fortunate when its opponents have gotten on the board first. Kansas has not won a game in that same 33-game span when finding itself trailing 1-0 at any point in a match. The Jayhawks are 0-14-1 in those games over the last two seasons, including a 0-6-0 mark this year.
Fast Goal Fun
In Kansas’ win over South Dakota State on Sept. 22, sophomore Courtney Dickerson scored the Jayhawks’ first goal just 62 seconds into the match. The goal was the fastest by a KU player since current senior Caroline Kastor set a school record with her goal only 18 seconds after kickoff on Oct. 25, 2010 against Colorado. Since the start of the 2005 season, Kansas has put in a goal within the first 10 minutes of a match 32 times and has proven to be almost unbeatable on those occasions. KU is 26-2-4 in matches which it has scored before the 10-minute mark, with the two losses coming in Kastor’s record-breaking 18-second game against Colorado in 2010 and the Jayhawks’ 3-2 loss to Santa Clara on Sept. 27.
Spreading the Wealth
Kansas has proven to be an unselfish team this season, with eight different Jayhawks tallying goals, already surpassing last season’s goal scorer total. This type of unselfish play isn’t anything new for Kansas, especially during the Mark Francis era. KU has seen seven or more of its players put in goals in all but one season of Francis’ 15-year stay in Lawrence.
Last year, KU had seven different players enter the score sheet and 10 tally at least one helper. The program high came in 2003 when 14 of the team’s 20 players posted at least one goal.
Up Next
Kansas will pay a visit to defending Big 12 regular-season champion West Virginia in Morgantown, W.V., on Friday, Oct. 18 for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Jayhawks will then return to Lawrence to host the defending Big 12 tournament champion Baylor Bears on Sunday, Oct. 20. The match, which will be televised on Metro Sports and ESPN3.com, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
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