Friday, October 9, 2009
Coach Mark Francis knows one thing about his starting lineup this weekend: 11 players will take the field. Other than that, it’s up in the air.
Sophomore midfielder Emily Cressy plays a ball to a teammate.
After a disappointing 0-3 start to Big 12 play, Francis needed a way to increase his team’s focus and intensity for two crucial games at home this weekend against Texas Tech and Colorado. He told his team that no player’s starting position was safe.
“Everyone’s going to have to earn their spot based on their effort and also the quality of what they’re doing,” he said.
His team has certainly gotten the message. Senior midfielder Monica Dolinsky said the practices were noticeably more intense.
“Everyone’s been working a lot harder in practice and challenging each other more than we have been the last couple weeks,” she said.
Francis said he was trying to reduce the amount of mental errors that have cost the team in its past few games. The team gave up four penalty kicks this year. One of those kicks gave Texas the game-winning goal against Kansas last Sunday. Senior defender Lauren Jackson said such momentary lapses of focus were responsible for the team’s mistakes.
“I think it’s just an individual thing,” she said. “You have to mentally prepare within yourself before a game.”
Francis also tweaked practices this week to highlight the players’ lack of focus and correct it. Any time a player committed a mental error, they paid with sprints on the sideline while their team played a man down. So far, it’s made a difference — at least in practice.
“I think that’s helping us focus a lot better,” Jackson said. “We’re not making mistakes as much.”
Eliminating those mental slip-ups will be imperative for Kansas in order to find positive results this weekend. They host the top two teams in the conference right now in Texas Tech and Colorado. First up on Friday is Texas Tech (8-4-1 overall, 3-0-1 Big 12), which hasn’t beaten Kansas in their past five meetings. Friday’s game will be Kansas’ first home conference game, as well as Texas Tech’s first away game in Big 12 play. Playing in Lawrence will be a welcomed confidence boost to the road-weary Jayhawks, who just completed a four-game road streak.
“I think our kids are just going to be excited to play at home,” said Francis. “Obviously that’s going to be a huge advantage for us. We have to make the most of it.”
Sunday brings Big 12 power Colorado (7-6 overall, 4-1 Big 12), which lost its only away conference game this season to a weak Baylor team.
So far, the Jayhawks have avoided panicking over their poor start, but are aware how important each remaining game is.
“Basically we have to win,” Dolinsky said. “That’s all we’re thinking right now,”
Today’s game will start at 4 p.m., and Sunday’s game will begin at 1 p.m., both at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
— Edited by Lauren Cunningham
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