April 14, 2004

"Spring soccer for Mizzou is a time for improvement, change, and fun. In the beginning of the spring, we focus speed and agility. As time progresses, we focus more on soccer including individual sessions, small-sided games, and eventually full field scrimmages.

This past season, we went further than any other Mizzou soccer team with a second round NCAA appearance. However, this spring we found ourselves unsatisfied from last year and hungry to improve so we can go even farther next fall.

Our speed and agility training was competitive and intense. Through hard work and great training we have improved from top to bottom. All 15 players have broken previous personal records in this past speed and agility period. Team records have also been surpassed. Coach Hughan reports that Jennie Nobis now holds the record for 3-hop, agility, and I-test (also a school record). Shea Swoboda owns the Missouri bench and hang clean record, Ashley Gibbs tops the team in chin-ups and Lauren Grice holds the team record for push-ups. We are also happy to report that we have had no major injuries and remain healthy (thanks to trainer Todd Gerlt) which is certainly an improvement from last fall.

"On the soccer side, we have also improved by playing 3 v 3 training indoors and via individual workouts. As a team each spring, we incorporate a theme into our training to help us keep the hard work from feeling like work. This year our theme was 80's rock bands.

During our spring training, each 3 v 3 group named their team after a band. Our practices were kept rocking by appearances from the Go-Go's, Run DMC, Def Leopard, New Kids On the Block and AHA.

Incorporating a fresh element to our program, we took advantage of the new indoor soccer facility, the MAC, which opened this winter in Columbia. The MAC has two small indoor fields which helped us to improve our skills playing inside. We moved outdoors just before spring break and opened practice to the men of Mizzou. Playing against college guys has tremendously helped our training, especially helping to increase our speed and fine-tune split second decision making.

Keeping on that theme, we played our first spring game on the March 18, against a U-16 Columbia youth boys team. We played very well against their team's speed but ended up losing 1-0 on a rocket shot from 35-yards out.

"This spring we have also been able to spend some time away from the soccer field spending time as a team as well as the community. With more days off in the spring, we have been taking advantage of our free time to get to know each other as friends and not just as teammates. We also continued our Mizzou soccer family tradition of visiting the Veteran's Hospital for Valentine's Day. We delivered Valentines to the Veterans and were able to spend one-on-one time with them as well. We also had an opportunity to make a new friend. Recently, we spent time with Cale Fisher, a seventh grader who is a big soccer fan. Cale is spending time a the University Hospital as a cancer patient where we plan to continue to visiting him.

Lastly, we have added two new members to our soccer family. Amy Edwards and Derek Pittman have joined us as our new assistant coaches. We are really excited to share in their exceptional knowledge and passion for the game. They are both very enthusiastic and seem to fit in well with the family!

Well the spring season this year has certainly flown by, maybe it is because we are seniors and for seven of us this is our last one. We certainly plan to take what we have learned and improved on this spring into the fall to produce an even better outcome than last year. The grind of the spring is over and with the break we have returned focused and determined to play hard in our last four games of the spring.

We want to thank all our fans for their support and we hope you'll all continue following us this spring. We can't wait to get back on the competitive field this fall and hope you'll come along for another ride to the NCAA Tournament with us in 2004!"