After dropping a valuable home game to Colorado Sunday, Kansas is starting to feel the pressure as it goes into its final road games of the season.

This Friday, Kansas faces Oklahoma (7-7-1 overall, 2-4 Big 12) in Norman and then visits Baylor (6-3-4 overall, 2-2-2 Big 12) in Waco Sunday. The Jayhawks sit at 10th place in the Big 12 with a 1-4 conference record (9-5-1 overall) with five games remaining in the regular season.

But that doesn’t mean the team has been severely outplayed by its competition. Each of the team’s last four games have been decided by just one goal, including three losses to Texas, Texas A&M and Colorado.

“In this conference, the games are going to be close,” Kansas coach Mark Francis said. “All our games have been, so each day you have to take your opportunities.”

Francis said he was happy with the team’s play over the weekend, but would like to see a better start from the players this weekend against Oklahoma and Baylor. The Jayhawks surrendered a first-half goal in each of their games this weekend, but then dominated the opposition in the second half. The Jayhawks outshot the Buffaloes 14-2 in the second period but couldn’t get an equalizing goal. Senior forward Shannon McCabe said capitalizing on every goal-scoring chance will be key for the team.

“If we have anything to focus on, it’ll be taking advantage of the opportunities we have in front of goal,” she said.

Although its play over the weekend was encouraging, it doesn’t get the team around the fact that it still has a hole to climb out of if it wants to play in the postseason. McCabe said this weekend would be “do-or-die” for the Jayhawks. But heading back out on the road won’t make it any easier for the team.

Baylor, seventh in the Big 12, and Oklahoma, eighth, are in similar situations as Kansas. All three schools are vying to be among the top eight teams that advance to the Big 12 Tournament.

“Games have never been easy against Oklahoma or Baylor,” McCabe said. “They’re going to come out wanting to win, so we’re going to need to come out with that same mentality.”

Francis isn’t worried about missing out on postseason yet. He said a 13-victory season should earn Kansas a spot in the NCAA tournament, which means the team would have to win four out of its last five games. From what he saw this weekend, he believes they’ll be able to turn it around.

“We can’t be that unlucky if we play that well again,” he said.

— Edited by Betsy Cutcliff