Nov. 4, 2003
Big 12 Tournament
Missouri advances to the 2003 Big 12 Tournament this week as the No. 8 seed. Facing the No. 1 seeded Colorado Buffaloes in the first round of competition, the Tigers open the tournament on Thurs., Nov. 6 at 11:00 a.m.
The victor of the Missouri-Colorado game advances to the semifinals to face the victor of the Nebraska-Texas A&M game on Fri.., Nov. 7 at 5:00 p.m.
Scouting #5 Colorado
The Buffaloes enter tournament competition toting an impressive 15-2-1 record and a fifth-place NSCAA ranking. Colorado won the Big 12 Conference regular season crown owning an 8-1-1 record during league play. CU's only conference loss was to then #4 ranked Texas A&M (2-0), while the Buffs single tie came at the hands of then #18 Oklahoma (0-0).
Facing the Tigers earlier in the season, Colorado bested Mizzou 3-2. Missouri jumped to an early 2-0 lead over Colorado, before giving up three goals. Overshadowing the Tiger loss, Jennifer Nobis suffered a second-degree separation to her shoulder during the game.
Big 12 Rookie of the Year Katie Griffin leads the Buffaloes scoring 10 goals and three assists for 23 points. Following suit, Big 12 Player of the Year Fran Munnelly is second on the team with six goals, seven assists and 19 points. Cornering the Big 12 awards, CU Coach Bill Hempen was honored as the Big 12 Coach of the Year.
Scouting #22 Nebraska
The Cornhuskers are currently ranked 22nd in the Soccer Times poll owning an 11-6-1 record. Nebraska joins the Big 12 Tournament as the fourth-place seed toting a 6-4-0 league mark. NU owns two victories over ranked opponents this season, including a 2-1 win over then #18 Oklahoma and a 2-1 victory over then #9 Texas A&M.
Mizzou struggled against the Cornhuskers earlier in the year taking a 3-1 loss. Despite a 3-0 deficit rounding down the game, the Tigers refused to give up. Freshman Aria Hudetz came through for Missouri scoring the team's lone goal.
Husker Jenna Cooper was honored as a Big 12 first team defensive selection while forward Jessie Brusch was selected to the All-Newcomer team.
Scouting #14 Texas A&M
Texas A&M is 12-4-2 on the year with a 5-3-2 Big 12 Conference mark and a fifth-place tournament seed. Taking their lumps during league play, the Aggies were handed three of their four losses of the year to Big 12 opponents, including a 5-4 loss to Mizzou.
After leading the game 3-1 after the first half, the Tigers dominated the Aggies in the second half scoring three goals to send the game into overtime. Melissa Peabody completed a hat trick to best the Aggies in the sudden-death period.
Texas A&M has seven athletes earning Big 12 honors. Goalkeeper Kati Jo Spisak, defender Amanda Burke and midfielders Kristen Strutz and Laura Probst were named first team, while forward Emma Smith was chosen as a second team selection. Defender Linda Pierson and forward Kat Krambeer were all-newcomer selections.
Mizzou in the Big 12
Slipping into the Big 12 Tournament with a narrow 4-3 victory over Iowa State, the Tigers are 9-9-1 on the year with a 3-6-1 league record. Although Missouri's eight-place seed is the lowest rank in program history, the Tigers extend their series attending every conference tournament to date.
Big 12 Honors
Junior Melissa Peabody was honored as an All-Big 12 second team selection. After scoring five of her six season goals and three of her four assists against conference opponents, including a game-winning hat trick against #4 ranked Texas A&M, Peabody earns her second league honor. She was also chosen as a second team selection in 2002.
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 seven 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.
The Tigers round out the 2003 regular season with a 2-1 road split. Mizzou defeated Baylor 2-1 and fell to Texas Tech 3-1. Sitting in ninth-place heading into the last league game of the season, Missouri knocked off Iowa State to earn tournament berth.
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 14 opponent goals in 18 games. Falling to Missouri, the Aggies gave up 36 percent of their season goals allowed in the Tigers' 5-4 victory.
* Likewise, the Tigers scored two goals against Colorado to own 20 percent of the goals scored against the Buffaloes this season. In 18 contests, CU has given up just 10 goals while recording 10 shutouts.
* Including #4 Texas A&M, Missouri has faced eight opponents ranked in the top-25 at the time of play, including seven of 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 fourth in the league making 98 saves in 2003 to average 5.16 saves per game. The Mizzou duo of Megan Duncan and Stephanie Krawczyk have faced 244 shots in 20 games.
* Although Mizzou is ranked sixth in goals scored (33) in 2003, Tiger playmakers have combined for 33 assists to average 1.74 assists per game for a fifth-place ranking. Kristen Heil (2), Elyse Nikonchuk (1) and Shea Swoboda (1) are Mizzou's only players to score unassisted goals.
* Missouri has dished out 18 of its season assists against conference opponents to average 1.80 assists per game during league play to rank third overall in conference statistics.
* Despite an eighth-place finish in conference standings, Mizzou is ranked fourth in the league in points (54) after scoring 18 goals and 18 assists against Big 12 opponents. Offensively, the Tigers rank fifth in the league overall.
-- For a complete version of Missouri's Big 12 Tournament soccer notes, please select the Weekly Release PDF from the Mizzou Soccer main page.