Huskers Drop Hard-Fought Battle to KU

Lincoln - In a game that had the look and feel of a regular-season Big 12 Conference match, the Nebraska soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to visiting Kansas at the Nebraska Soccer Field on Saturday afternoon.

On a crisp fall-like day in Lincoln, the Huskers and Jayhawks went head-to-head for 90 minutes in a tightly-contested match.

Although the Huskers ended with a 2-1 loss on the scoreboard, Nebraska outshot KU, 14-12, and attempted eight shots on goal to the Jayhawks' seven. NU slipped to 2-1-1 on the spring with its first loss of the exhibition season.

"I thought it was very much like a regular-season Big 12 match," Nebraska Coach John Walker said. "We played pretty well and I thought the quality of our effort was significant. Obviously, you would like to get the win, but we saw some good things in the implementation of what we've been working on every day in practice."

The Jayhawks struck first on the game's first shot when Nicole Cauzillo fired a header past NU goalkeeper Brittany Pfeil off an assist from Monica Dolinsky to give KU a 1-0 lead just 6:21 into the match.

The Huskers answered just over 15 minutes later when Lindsay Poehling rocketed a shot past KU's Colleen Quinn after assists from Brittany Lanier and Tanya Dennis on an NU corner kick 21:39 into the contest.

Kansas regained the lead just over 10 minutes later on a 30-yard blast by Jessica Bush 32:12 into the match, giving KU two goals on its first three shots of the game. At the time, NU was outshooting KU 6-3, but the Jayhawks found themselves in the lead on the scoreboard.

The defenses squelched every attack the rest of the way, as the Jayhawks held on for the last 58 minutes for the 2-1 win.

Nebraska outshot Kansas, 7-6, in the first half, but the Jayhawks notched four shots on goal to NU's three. In the second half, the Huskers again outshot KU, 7-6, including a 5-3 edge in shots on goal that culminated with Sari Raber's final attempt of the game from 35 yards out with just 23 seconds left.

Pfeill recorded five saves in goal for the Huskers, while Quinn led the Jayhawks with seven saves.

Nebraska concludes its spring season by taking on Colorado in North Platte, Neb., on Saturday, April 21, at 3 p.m.