Friday, October 23, 2009
The situation for the Jayhawks this weekend couldn’t be much clearer — they must win. At ninth place in the Big 12, one slot behind the cut-off for the Big 12 tournament, the team doesn’t have room for error in its last three regular season games.
“We’ve got to win on Friday; there’s no doubt about it,” said coach Mark Francis.
Winning on Friday means taking down Nebraska (9-3-4 overall, 3-2-2 in the Big 12), the fourth-ranked team in the conference. The Cornhuskers will bring with them the NCAA’s leading scorer. Freshman Morgan Marlborough has 21 goals this season — 1.31 per game — and seven goals in conference play.
Kansas (10-6-1 overall, 2-5 in Big 12) is certainly aware of the freshman and Nebraska’s high-pressure offense, which ranks third in the nation with 53 goals.
“They play high-pressure up top, and they play really aggressive all over the field,” senior defender Estelle Johnson said. “But we’ve dealt with a lot of really good forwards already, so we’ll be fine.”
Kansas also has the advantage of remaining at home this weekend. Nebraska hasn’t won a Big 12 away game this year. However, the Cornhuskers will most likely be riding a wave of confidence after taking down No. 14 Texas A&M last weekend 2-1.
Senior goalkeeper Julie Hanley said the defense has been preparing for Nebraska’s direct style of play by focusing on long balls and crosses into the penalty area, something that has given Kansas trouble several times this year.
The Jayhawks will more likely feed on a sense of urgency than confidence. The team is in a three-way tie with two other teams at the bottom of the conference with six points (teams receive three points for a win and one point for a tie). Players said the intensity in practice has noticeably increased this week.
“It’s been really intense. Everybody’s just really frustrated,” said Johnson.
The team has reason to be frustrated as four out of their five conference losses have been by just one goal. To gain a spot in the Big 12 tournament, Kansas will need to at least make up a three-point deficit to Oklahoma State, the eight-ranked team. Playing all three of their final games at home will make the task easier, but there are no guarantees.
“We know that we have to win every single game to put ourselves in a good position to even make the Big 12 tournament,” said Johnson. “There’s a lot of tension about that, but we’re just taking it one game at a time.”
— Edited by Abbey Strusz
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