Aug. 23, 2002
Published Wednesday, August 21, 2002
With a lineup full of players who had yet to take their first final exams, there were plenty of times last year when Missouri soccer Coach Bryan Blitz must have daydreamed about better days ahead.
Megan Duncan will battle Stephanie Krawczyk for Missouri's starting goalkeeper spot. Last year, Duncan gave up an average of 1.46 goals per game. Although the Tigers routinely had anywhere from six to nine freshmen in their starting lineup last year, they still almost made the NCAA Tournament.
Only a few late mental lapses prevented Missouri from sneaking into the national field for the second time in three years. MU finished 13-8 overall and 5-5 in the Big 12 Conference but lost four one-goal games.
"When you bring in so many new players, you're going to have some growing pains, and we did last year," Blitz said. "In those four games, we added the time up, and it boiled down to four minutes that kept us out of the tournament. Those were the result of immature mistakes. We won't make those this year. We might be young chronologically, but we're not young in experience."
The Tigers have just six upperclassmen - two seniors and four juniors - to go along with 10 battle-tested sophomores and seven freshmen.
In juniors Megan Duncan and Stephanie Krawczyk, the Tigers have a pair of capable goalkeepers competing again for the starting job. Duncan, who was named to the All-Big 12 Tournament team in 2001, is perhaps more athletic than her counterpart, but Krawczyk is a vocal leader.
"They're both solid, so it doesn't matter to us who's back there, we'll have confidence in them," sophomore defender Lacy Moore said. "We know if it gets by us, we've got talent and experience back there in goal."
With a new emphasis on speed and athleticism, the Tigers figure to do less backpedaling and more attacking this year.
"We've always been very skillful, but I think you'll see us open up our game a little more with a little more athleticism because we have those type of players now," Blitz said. "We went out and got players with pure speed. This is by far the most athletic and the fastest team we've had."
Junior forward Adriene Davis and sophomore Missy Peabody led the team in scoring last year, and the Tigers will have even more offensive weapons at their disposal in 2002.
Junior Melissa McLellan and sophomores Shea Swoboda and Kristen Heil and freshmen Jenny Nobis and Amber Swinehart should all score their share of goals this season in support of Davis and Peabody.
"I think we're a lot more balanced this year, and as a result, we're going to score more goals," Davis said. "Teams are not going to be able to mark Missy and I with two or three defenders this season because we added a lot of speed this year."
Perhaps the biggest question mark will be in the center of the defense with the graduation of All- Big 12 defender Dyana Russell and former stopper Mandy Waters. Moore was moved from the midfield to the back row to help ease the loss of Russell and Waters.
Seniors Carrie Crossett and Suzy Probst, junior Kristin Gibbons, sophomores Kim Hibbert and Ashley Gibbs and freshmen Angela Furin and Breanah Glynn will give the Tigers a solid back-row rotation.
"Luckily we had the spring to work out a lot of the kinks defensively," Blitz said. "Playing tough teams like Santa Clara and Notre Dame in the spring allowed us to really harden our back line."
In the midfield, Missouri features junior Karen Bauer, sophomore Emmakate Young and freshmen Erica Pusch and Kylie Moorman.
"Everybody has worked so hard during the off-season to get better," Duncan said. "Now we expect to see the results of all that work."