Mark Francis is a man searching for answers.

Kansas University’s soccer coach wants to know where his team went — especially in the second half of Friday’s 1-0 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the first day of the KUStore.com Tournament at Jayhawk Soccer Complex.

“This was a different team than I was coaching Monday night when we played BYU,” Francis said of the Jayhawks’ 1-0 win in Provo, Utah. “Hopefully the team I had on Monday will show up on Sunday.”

Francis could tell something was not quite right with his team during warm-ups, but had no idea where or when his club’s overall sluggishness originated.

He still does not know.

“If I knew, I could bottle it and sell it and be rich because every coach could use it,” Francis quipped.

True, Kansas (3-0) won again to remain undefeated, but it was far from the showing Francis was looking for out of his club’s home opener.

The game started out well for Kansas, as the Jayhawks kept most of the action right in front of Panthers goalkeeper Kerri St. Aubin.

In fact, Kansas senior goalkeeper Meghan Miller did not touch the ball until 13 minutes into the game.

Kansas took its 1-0 advantage in the 27th minute when KU midfielder Nicole Cauzillo received an unexpected present on her 19th birthday with her first goal as a Jayhawk.

Kansas University's Nicole Cauzillo celebrates her goal with a fist pump in front of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Brenda Andrews. The Jayhawks won, 1-0, their first game of the KUStore.com Tournament on Friday at Jayhawk Soccer Complex.

“Jessica Smith put an unbelievable ball in the far post, and Jessica Kilpatrick sent it up, and all I had to do was finish it,” said Cauzillo, a sophomore transfer from West Virginia.

Then there came the second half.

Miller went from standing around to diving, leaping and blocking a scurry of shots from the Panthers (1-2). The Seattle senior made six saves for her third shutout of the season. Five of those saves came in the second half.

“I think today we had a problem with our focus. It wasn’t there mentally. We couldn’t string passes together. It wasn’t typical of us,” Miller said. “If we’re playing well I should never touch the ball.”

Lack of focus was not the only problem Francis saw with his team.

“The second half … that’s the worst I’ve seen KU play in three years. That’s the worst 45 minutes,” Francis said. “We were absolutely horrendous. That’s the only word for it. And I can’t explain it. … We got lucky. We really did.

“If it wasn’t for Meghan, we wouldn’t won the game. We scored a great goal. Other than that, we got fortunate. Lucky for us Meghan was on fire today and played really well.”

Kansas will need more than luck to get past St. Louis on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in its second game of the tournament. The Billikens (1-1-1) managed to slip past Mississippi State (2-1) earlier in the day with a 1-0 decision coming off the goal of junior Kelly Ferguson.

“That’s one thing on Sunday’s game,” Cauzillo said. “We don’t have to dwell on (Friday’s game) for a week. We can come out on Sunday and get focused again.”

Kansas University forward Jessica Smith, front, battles for position with Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Kerri St. Aubin, back left, and Brenda Andrews. The Jayhawks won, 1-0, Friday at Jayhawk Soccer Complex.