Ranked soccer team prepares for tough weekend schedule
Soccer Coach Mark Francis wants a win against his alma mater during a two-game weekend schedule
By Andrew Wiebe (Contact)
Friday, September 5th, 2008
College soccer plays by its own rules.
Coach Mark Francis knows that firsthand. A London-born transplant to soccer in the United States, Francis has plenty of experience with the way the rest of the world schedules the beautiful game.
Photo by Weston White
Goalkeeper Julie Hanley blocks a kick against Auburn. The Jayhawks play a game today against UAB.
The NCAA, on the other hand, does things its own way.
This weekend marks the first of eight straight weekends in which No. 20 Kansas will play two games in three days. The Jayhawks start the weekend by taking on UAB Friday afternoon at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex then follow that by traveling to Dallas to face SMU, Francis’ alma mater, on Sunday.
Francis said the grueling prospect of 180 minutes of high-level soccer in such a short time span is a phenomenon reserved for college athletes.
“Its not ideal,” Francis said of the physical demands a clustered schedule poses for his players. “We are the only people in the world who do that. Nobody else plays that many games in three days.”
That isn’t even including the NCAA’s baffling game clock that counts down each 45 minute half rather than the running clock the rest of the world employs. Still, Francis and his players have no choice but to prepare for the schedule they are given.
Sophomore defender Lauren Jackson said first-year players tend to have trouble adjusting to the scheduling and travel. After a year on campus to build fitness and acclimate to travel, Jackson said she is accustomed to the physical exertion required.
“Everyone is tired,” she said. “The other team is tired. They played on Friday too so I feel like we are pretty evenly matched.”
One advantage college squads have is the number of substitutions and available players coaches have at their disposal. NCAA substitution rules allow any player to reenter after being substituted each half, and anyone listed on the game day roster is eligible to enter.
Francis said he doesn’t change tactics on Fridays to accommodate for the second games, but that the pace was usually slower on Sundays with coaches keeping more players behind the ball and utilizing their benches more frequently.
HOMECOMING FOR FRANCIS
When Kansas plays SMU Sunday afternoon, it will be the first time Coach Mark Francis has coached at his alma mater.
The Jayhawks battled to a 1-1 tie with the Mustangs last year in Lawrence, but Francis said he hadn’t returned to his former stomping grounds except to recruit and watch a few men’s games since he graduated in 1987.
Asked if a victory against SMU would mean more than others, Francis admitted he would prefer to improve on last season’s result.
“You don’t want to go back and lose for sure,” he said.
GEHA MISSING FROM ACTION
Senior midfielder Missy Geha didn’t play against Auburn last weekend, something that has rarely happened since Geha arrived on campus in 2005.
Through her first three seasons, the St. Thomas Aquinas product started 59 of 60 total games, registering three goals and two assists.
Francis said Geha had an undisclosed medical condition that would not allow her to play. He said she wouldn’t play until cleared by the medical staff.
— Edited by Ramsey Cox
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