It’s hard to imagine that a team ranked eighth in the nation could be put in a must-win situation.
For Kansas University’s women’s soccer squad, that was the case Friday, and the Jayhawks delivered under pressure with a 2-0 victory over Mississippi, improving their record to 7-1.
After receiving the No. 8 ranking in the country earlier this week, the Jayhawks suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday against No. 11 Illinois. Going into the Mississippi game, KU coach Mark Francis wanted to make sure a trend did not come from his team’s first loss.
“I told the kids that today was going to be our toughest game of the year so far just because, coming from a loss, we hadn’t been in this situation before,” he said. “I thought over a 90-minute period, that might have been as well as we’ve played.”
The Jayhawks’ solid start-to-finish performance was highlighted by the defense.
Senior goalkeeper Meghan Miller had an easy afternoon, facing only one shot on goal. Nearly every time the Rebels appeared to be forming an offensive attack, it was stifled within seconds.
“Every time they did try to attack, I thought our back four were very solid,” Francis said. “A lot of plays were played well today, which you really couldn’t say back on Tuesday.”
The first of the Jayhawks’ two goals came with 25:20 remaining in the first half when senior forward Rachel Gilfillan scored her third goal of the season on a pass from junior forward Caroline Smith.
Smith got back into the action with 7:19 left in the game, and ultimately sealed the win. The Edina, Minn., native took a perfect pass from senior midfielder Amy Geha and scored her third goal of the season.
“Geha played me an awesome ball and made it very easy for me,” said Smith, who faced the same double-teams she has faced all season. “Anytime you lose, you have to rebound and win the next game because otherwise you never know what’s going to happen.”
Even though she is behind her torrid scoring pace of a year ago, Smith getting back onto the stat sheet gave more momentum to a Kansas team that heads back on the road to play Auburn at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“If you look at how many people have scored goals for us right now, a lot of people have been scoring and a lot of that comes down to the attention Caroline has been getting,” Francis said. “On the one hand, it’s tougher for her to get in and score because of that attention she’s getting, but as a team it’s helping us.”