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Mandi Duggan put her head on a Morgan Williams cross in the 19th minute on Sunday night, giving Kansas a 1-0 lead that would be enough for a victory over Marquette. The Golden Eagles drop to 0-2-0 on the still very young 2016 season.
In Friday’s loss to Nebraska, Marquette at least had the advantage of being able to say they walked away with the majority of the shots in the game. That’s not the case here, as Kansas outshot MU, 16-7. The biggest discrepancy came in the first half, when the Jayhawks had a 9-3 advantage, and I’m surprised that Marquette managed to get three shots off. The field was severely tipped in favor of KU for a vast majority of the opening 45 minutes, as Marquette did a pretty good job keeping the ball out of the net but not as good of a job maintaining possession long enough to mount a serious offense and spend time down on their offensive half of the field.
Things evened out a bit in the second half, although Kansas still held a 7-4 shots advantage. Marquette seemed to start knocking on the door a bit more, including a sequence in the 79th minute where Ashley Handwork crushed a shot right into the grill of Kansas’ Hannah Lukinac. The referee rightfully blew play dead when Lukinac dropped to the turf like a sack of potatoes, but it did cut short a situation where things were discombobulated a bit for Kansas.
Darian Powell made her 2016 debut with three minutes left in the first half, and she played another eight minutes in the second half. The Time Warner Cable Sports Channel announcers that were calling the game said that the injury that was hampering Powell in the preseason was recovery from another ankle surgery. Powell missed all of the 2012 and 2013 seasons at Marquette because of ankle surgeries.
Up Next: The Golden Eagles hunt for their first win of the season in Normal, Illinois, on Thursday when they visit Illinois State. ISU is also 0-2-0 on the season after dropping opening weekend matches to Illinois and Wisconsin. First kick against the Redbirds is scheduled for 7pm, and this game will be streamed live on WatchESPN.