November 6, 1998
In the one of the most exciting games of soccer, Missouri prevailed to advance to the Big 12 Championship match on Sunday, November 8. As the number fifth seed in the tournament, the Tigers have made conference history by being the first team to be ranked other then one or two to advance to the championship match.
In a 3-2 victory over No. 12 Baylor, Missouri now has advanced farther in the post season than ever before. Undefeated in conference, Baylor awaits whether or not they will make it to the NCAA Tournament.
However, Missouri has another game to concentrate on, and after tonight they move into uncharted territory. But their performance tonight showed they were ready to make their entrance.
Scoring the first goal of the game and her third consecutive goal, Amy Timmerman snuck past the Baylor defense and put the Tigers ahead. After the half Baylor answered, and after a barrage of shots Molly Cameron nothced the tying goal. On the attack again, The Tigers kept the pressure on and ten minutes later took the lead when Stephanie Brennan scored her third consecutive goal as well.
Immediately after the restart Baylor attacked and tied the game again when Gina Castellano scored one after the corner kick. However, with ten minutes left in the game Missouri's Erin Grimsley took a pass from her partner in crime, Nikki Thole, and took the Baylor keeper on to score the game winner. That was the third game winning goal Grimsley had scored this season.
"That tandum Missouri has up in front is very difficult to defend and we knew what we had to do. We didn't come unprepared. However, we made a couple of key mistakes on defense , and Missouri is very hot right now. Coach Blitz has done a good job with this team," said Baylor Head Coach Randy Waldrum.
What was the key factor of this game though was junior goalkeeper Jackie Adamec. She had eleven saves, and has 32 in the past four games. In the first half the Tiger defense fouled in the box allowing for a penalty kick. Nikki Hales took the kick and Adamec dove to the left corner and made the save. Baylor had thirteen shots on goal. Also helping Adamec out was junior sweeper Heather Buchheit, she played a vital role in keeping the Bears from winning the game.
"We are very pleased with the win. This has been a goal of ours since the beginng of the season, and now we are getting the opportunity. This is just another step in our history and we are ready to keep taking those steps up," said Head Coach Bryan Blitz.
Missouri faces the winner of the Nebraska and Texas A&M game that was being played at 7:30 p.m. The championship game will be played at 1:30 on Sunday and will be televised by Fox Sports. See the Big 12 web page for the time of the broadcast at sports.tamu.edu/big12soccer.