Oct. 29, 2003
Mizzou Rounds Down Regular Season
The Mizzou soccer hits the road to play its final game of the regular season against Iowa State. The Tigers face the Cyclones in Ames, Iowa, on Fri., Oct. 31 at 2:00 p.m. Game time has been rescheduled from its original 5:00 p.m., start to accommodate fans.
Scouting Iowa State
The Cyclones are currently in eighth-place in Big 12 Conference Standings with a 2-5-2 league record. Missouri sits in ninth-place owning a 2-6-1 conference mark. The MU-ISU face off will determine which team advances to the Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio, Texas, next week.
On the season, Iowa State is 5-8-4. Earning their two Big 12 Conference victories, the Cyclones defeated Texas Tech 3-0 and bested Oklahoma State 3-1. ISU also owns ties against Baylor (1-1) and Oklahoma (2-2).
Kate Kirwin leads Iowa State scoring 17 points from six goals and five assists. She is followed by Kristina Bauman who has three goals and four assists for ten points. In goal, Beth Chapman anchors the Cyclones playing in all 17 games. She has made 80 saves, allowed 25 goals and owns a 1.48 goals against average. She has three shutout victories on the year against Weber State, Mississippi State and Texas Tech.
Missouri leads the MU-ISU series 6-2, including the last two outings against the Cyclones. Mizzou defeated ISU in 3-0 last season and 1-0 in 2001.
Mizzou in the Big 12
Searching for berth to the 2003 Big 12 Tournament, the Tigers are 8-9-1 on the year with a 2-6-1 Big 12 Conference record. This is the first year since the inception of the Big 12 Conference soccer program that the Tigers have been in jeopardy of missing tournament selection.
The Tigers face Iowa State following a split last week against Baylor and Texas Tech. Mizzou came-back to defeat Baylor 2-1 before falling 3-1 to the Red Raiders. Helping to keep Missouri in the running for tournament selection, Baylor tied Iowa State 1-1 to give the Tigers one last chance to advance.
Eying the Tigers
Backed by a tremendous 5-4 victory over #4 Texas A&M, Missouri looks to round out the 2003 season on another high note. Mizzou earned its first league win over the Aggies and came-back to tie then #21 ranked Oklahoma State with a second-half goal.
Battling a range of injuries that have sidelined six of Mizzou's starters at various points during the season, the Tigers were still able to keep a close match with #24 Oklahoma. Missouri led 1-0 for the majority of the game before giving up the game-tying goal late in the second period. The Tigers fell to the Sooners on a controversial goal scored in overtime.
The Mizzou upswing faltered however as ill fortune struck the Tigers against KU and Texas. In a 2-0 loss to Kansas, two of Missouri's starters were sidelined by injury while the team lost an additional player to a red card. Mizzou faced the Longhorns without several of its key athletes, but still managed to give them a rough game before taking a 2-1 loss.
Tiger Tidbits
* The Tigers were 6-3-1 on their home field this season. Mizzou opened 2003 with a five-game home win streak-its longest opening streak in history-before falling to Oklahoma.
* Missouri opened the year with a 4-0 win streak marking just the second time in program history the Tigers have gone undefeated during its season introduction - Mizzou opened the 2000 season with five consecutive victories before taking a loss.
* During the 2003 season, Texas A&M has only allowed 10 opponent goals in 15 games. Falling to Missouri, the Aggies gave up 50 percent of their season goals against in the Tigers' 5-4 victory.
* Likewise, the Tigers scored two goals against Colorado to own 29 percent of the goals scored against the Buffaloes this season. In 15 contests, CU has given up just seven goals while recording nine shutouts.
* Including #4 Texas A&M, Missouri has faced eight opponents ranked in the top-25 at the time of play, including seven of their last eight consecutive games. In addition, the Tigers have three additional teams on their schedule toted in the top-25 at sometime during the season including:
#14 Purdue -- NSCAA (10-13-03)
#19 Kansas -- SoccerBuzz (9-22-03)
#7 Texas -- NSCAA (9-15-03)
Missouri in the Big 12
* The Tiger goalkeeping staff is ranked third in the league making 92 saves in 2003 to average 5.11 saves per game. The Mizzou duo of Megan Duncan and Stephanie Krawczyk have faced 229 shots.
* Although Mizzou is only ranked seventh in goals scored (29) in 2003, Tiger playmakers have combined for 30 assists to average 1.67 assists per game for a sixth-place ranking. Kristen Heil (2) and Shea Swoboda (1) are Mizzou's only players to score unassisted goals.
* Missouri has dished out 15 of its season assists against conference opponents to average 1.67 assists per game during league play to rank fourth overall in conference statistics.