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Kansas City
Bakersfield
UMKC Blanks Bakersfield to Win Seventh Straight
10/19/2014 4:11:00 PM | Women's Soccer
(Kansas City, Mo.) – Four players scored for the 'Roos en route to a program-best seventh consecutive win, 4-0, over the visiting Bakersfield Roadrunners on Sunday.
Ellie Chadick got the party started early, finishing a beautifully placed cross from Kaely Tott from just outside of the six-yard box to put UMKC (10-3-2, 6-0-0) out in front. The goal was Chadick's fifth of the season and her third in the past four games.
In spite of a 14-1 shot differential and an enormous possession advantage, the 'Roos would carry only the one-goal advantage into the locker room at halftime. But, as this particular group has been apt to do, UMKC exploded out of the break.
Ten minutes into the latter stanza, freshman Kara Priest reclaimed her team-lead in goals with her sixth of the season, a result of fantastic ball movement by Chadick and Nikki Lynch, and perseverance on the part of Priest, who had to gather a momentary carom before beating CSUB goalkeeper Tori Ornela.
Just over seven minutes later Hannah Chadick got into the act, cashing in her third goal of the season with an assist from her sister to remove all doubt as to the eventual result. Finally, in the 76th minute, freshman Whitney Lucas put a bow on the day's festivities, cashing in Tott's second assist of the day to set the final margin at 4-0.
In all, UMKC outshot Bakersfield 23-2 overall and 13-1 on frame. The 'Roos smothered the Roadrunners defensively, completely controlling possession and scarcely allowing any CSUB advance to sneak beyond the midfield.
We have such high expectations," said head coach Chris Cissell. "We expect a lot of them. We demand a lot of them. Even today, with a 1-0 lead at halftime, we really got into them and told them what we expect."
Twenty players saw action for UMKC, each playing at least 10 minutes, with 12 different players attempting a shot and nine players putting a shot on goal.
"I think that there are so many good players here that the competition is so fierce for playing time," said Cissell. "The girls know if you're working hard and playing well you will be rewarded for it. We don't have a set lineup every game. We don't have a set lineup every half. It's fun. But you've got to work hard if you want to play."
Kansas City has lost just once since Sept. 5 -- a 1-0 setback at ninth-ranked Kansas -- and the 'Roos have outscored opponents by an aggregate margin of 22-4 during the current seven-game win streak.
"It's so tough for teams to prepare for us because you've got goals and assists coming from everywhere," said Cissell. "You've got so many girls contributing. Today we had goals from two girls off the bench. We don't have just one star that you can shut down or one go-to player, we have an entire team of good solid players, which makes us a lot harder to shut down."
UMKC leads the WAC in shots (149), assists per game (2.67), goals against average (0.64), and shutouts (6). All six of those shutouts belong to goalkeeper Nina Tzianos who continues to have a dominant junior campaign, leading the league in goals against average (0.62), save percentage (.895), and shutouts per game (0.43).
"It's exciting because you feel like all this hard work that we've done since we took over four seasons ago has come to fruition and we're super excited about it," said Cissell.
The 'Roos will embark upon a pivotal road trip next weekend, paying visits to Seattle (10-4-1, 6-1-0) and Utah Valley (10-5-2, 5-2-0), before wrapping up the conference slate with a home-and-home vs. Chicago Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
