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Offensive attack key for conference play

By Andrew Wiebe

Friday, September 26, 2008

It sounds obvious. Score goals and victories will follow.

But it’s the application that’s tricky. In 2007 Kansas found that out the hard way. After eight games, the Jayhawks had mustered three goals. Predictably, they had only one victory.

Eight games into 2008, Mark Francis’ team has engineered an offensive turnaround. No. 25 Kansas is 6-2 behind an explosive attack that has already found the back of the net 20 times — three less than their total for all of 2007.

“This year the forwards that we have kind of click,” junior forward Shannon McCabe said. “We play really well together, and we have a lot of movement off the ball.”

That budding offensive chemistry becomes even more important this weekend when Kansas begins Big 12 conference play with two games on the road. The Jayhawks travel to Lincoln, Neb., today to face Nebraska (4-4-1) followed by a showdown with Iowa State (4-4) in Ames, Iowa, on Sunday afternoon.

Francis’ team defeated both the Cornhuskers and Cyclones on their way to a second–place conference finish a year ago. But both programs made coaching changes in the offseason, and Kansas can’t afford to overlook either game as the 10-game sprint toward the Big 12 championship begins.

“After playing two seasons here, I know anything can happen in the conference,” McCabe said. “The team at the bottom can beat the team at the top any day of the week. We have to show up every game like we are facing the Texas A&Ms.”

The Jayhawks will need their flowing attack to carry them through their second straight weekend away from home. Though freshman forwards Emily Cressy and Kortney Clifton have shouldered much of the early scoring load combining for eight goals, junior midfielder Monica Dolinsky’s return to form has helped give Kansas the explosiveness it lacked in 2007.

Dolinsky and Cressy are tied for the team lead in points with 11, and the Carmel, Ind., native, Dolinsky, scored four goals and three assists are closing in on the numbers she put up as a freshman.

This season Kansas is averaging 2.5 goals per game compared with 1.05 in 2007. Dolinsky said the reason for the offensive turnaround from a year ago is the confidence the team has in each other to make plays in the attacking third.

“I think it’s just our overall team’s mentality about going forward and creating chances for ourselves,” she said. “I have been lucky, and girls have been able to finish my passes.”

But luck has little to do with it. With Dolinsky floating behind the front line waiting to attack space or spring a teammate, McCabe said the forwards simply have to get themselves in the right positions and wait for her to pick them out.

“I feel like we know each other’s strengths and what the other is going to do,” she said. “She is a really active player, and it’s really important to have someone like that in the middle because it’s really important to combine to create chances.”

The veteran midfielder isn’t afraid to drive a shot from deep, either. Dolinsky leads Kansas in total shots and shots on goal this season, and Francis said her ability to strike the ball with power and keep it on target creates chances for her teammates as the game goes on.

“I think sometimes when you take a couple of shots, the next time someone will step to you and allow you to slot somebody else in,” Francis said. “So it kind of keeps the opposition on their toes.”

GEHA AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEND

Senior midfielder Missy Geha, out with an undisclosed illness since Kansas’ opening game against Purdue, was cleared to practice this week, coach Mark Francis said.

He said the training staff was easing Geha back into fitness, but that she could get a look this weekend against Nebraska and Iowa State.

“Hopefully we can get her into some of the games this weekend and see how she does,” Francis said.

Geha started 59 of 60 possible games during her first three seasons in crimson and blue.

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