A soccer match full of chippy play and unhappy coaches looked headed for a draw in Lawrence, Kan. Then, the Jayhawks broke through with two goals in under four minutes to defeat the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday morning.
KU controlled possession in its attacking half. The Jayhawks spent 32 percent of their possession in the final third and another 38 percent just beyond their offensive half of the field. That was drastically superior to the 12 percent and 22 percent UA spent in those parts of the field.
For most of the game, it didn’t seem to matter. Arizona handled the pressure and kept KU from doing any real damage.
The two teams seemed headed to a scoreless draw when the clock hit 81:00. At 81:05, the draw was over when Jillian Gregorski knocked in the first of her two goals.
Arizona still had a chance. The Wildcats have scored late in recent games.
That chance was all but over in the 84th minute, when Gregorski got her second score of the match.
Getting to that point wasn’t easy. The coaches and players all started to get a little hot under the collar towards the end of the first half.
In the 30th minute, KU was awarded a penalty kick after it looked like a player was pulled down on the edge of the box. It was challenged by Arizona, and the officials overturned the PK, apparently because they deemed the foul to be by the Jayhawk who started pulling down the defender outside the box. It didn’t make KU coaches happy.
They were even less happy in the 40th minute when it appeared an Arizona defender touched the ball in the box. KU challenged, but the officials determined it did not meet the criteria for a penalty kick. It was the third such review to go in Arizona’s favor in the past two matches and the fourth time an Arizona defender has appeared to touch the ball in the opponent’s box during that span.
KU was even less pleased in the 43rd minute when Arizona’s Leilani Cortez-Ramirez grabbed an opposing player by the neck and flung her to the ground. Cortez-Ramirez got a yellow card. In the 44th minute, KU’s Caroline Castans drew a yellow for grabbing a Wildcat by the hips and trying to swing her off the ball.
The yellows continued in the second half. Arizona’s Ally Brown got one in the 54th minute. The Kansas coaches drew another in the 66th.
Arizona was outshot 12-1 in the match. KU had the 4-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.
The Wildcats are now 0-1-2 in Big 12 play. They will play just one match next week when they travel to Stillwater to play Oklahoma State on Friday, Oct. 2.
