Jayhawks Again Held Scoreless, Fall to TCU 1-0

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas soccer was once again unable to find the score sheet as the Jayhawks were shutout by the TCU Horned Frogs Friday evening inside the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. KU outshout the Horned Frogs by a margin of 13-3 over the final 45 minutes of play but were held without a goal for the third-consecutive match.
 
The Jayhawks dropped to 5-7-2 on the season and 0-2-1 in conference play. TCU moved to 5-6-3 in 2013 and now boasts a record of 1-2-1 inside the Big 12.
 
“Right now the quality we’re showing in the attacking end of the field just isn’t good enough,” said head coach Mark Francis. “I had no problem with the energy level or the way we competed today, but at some point that’s not enough. We’re doing a lot of things well right now but we just need to do a better job with the small details in the attacking portion of the field. We’ll move past this and look to get better in practice next week, come out next Friday, roll our sleeves up and compete hard.”
 
Kansas again fell victim to a goal off an opposing corner kick when TCU broke open the scoring in the 18^th minute of play. Sophomore Mackenzie Koch sent in the pass from the left side that sailed toward the far post. The cross was played perfectly to the head of senior Kelly Johnson, who sent it in past the KU keeper Kaitlyn Stroud for her first goal of the year.
 
There was still plenty of fight left in the Jayhawks however, as KU closed the half with four shots, however none were unable to get any on target, foreshadowing Kansas’ biggest issues in the second half.
 
The Jayhawks came out of the halftime lockerroom and played mostly dominating soccer, holding possession on TCU’s side of the field for nearly the entire 45 minute period. Kansas created numerous chances and even outshot the visitors by a wide margin of 13-3 in the second frame. Accuracy was the issue for the Jayhawks however, with KU only managing to put one of those 13 second half strikes on frame, and tallying just three for the match. Kansas’ shot-on-goal percentage of 15 percent was its second-lowest of the season.
 
Kansas had numerous chances to knot up the score over the final 20 minutes of play, but none came closer than Hanna Kallmaier‘s look in the 80^th minute. The sophomore let loose a strike from near the top right corner of the TCU penalty box. The ball appeared to be heading for the upper left corner of the goal but instead slammed off the crossbar and back into the field of play. The Jayhawks were unable to corral the loose ball that had found its way to the front of the TCU goal and were again turned away heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
 
Kansas tallied four shots over the final seven minutes, but again, none required saves from the TCU goalkeeper Vittoria Arnold and eventually led to Kansas’ absence from the score sheet for the third-straight match.
 
Leading the way statistically for the Jayhawks were sophomores Liana Salazar and Ashley Williams, who each posted four shots apiece. KU ended the game winning the shot battle over TCU, 20-15, Kansas’ most shots in loss this season. The Jayhawk goalkeeper, Stroud, amassed six saves on the night to mark the fifth-straight match and eighth this season the junior has collected five or more saves.
 
 
The Jayhawks will next travel to Morgantown, W.V. on Friday, Oct. 18 to take on the defending Big 12 regular season champion West Virginia Mountaineers. KU and WVU are slated to kick off 6 p.m. (CT). Kansas will then return home to host the reigning Big 12 Tournament champion Baylor on Sunday, Oct. 20 for a 1 p.m., kickoff to be televised on Metro Sports and ESPN3.
 
 
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