Mizzou Soccer Defeats Purdue 2-1
4/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
April 3, 2004
St. Louis, Mo. - When Mizzou and Purdue meet expect it to be a close game. For the second time in as many meeting the Tigers defeated the Boilermakers 2-1 in a hard fought pre-season game. Mizzou's victory ties their record with Purdue at 2-2.
Missouri dominated the first half of the match with steady offensive pressure and stalwart defensive stands. The Tigers came out shooting as senior Melissa Peabody was able to send a pass across the box to junior Jennifer Nobis who chipped the ball past the Purdue keeper for the first goal of the game. The Tigers goal came just under three minutes into the first half.
Mizzou continued to pressure the Purdue defense in the first half as they penetrated deep into Purdue's field but were unable to get another goal. On multiple occasions, senior Karen Bauer lofted corner kicks in front of the Purdue goal, but the Purdue defense managed to prevent Missouri from scoring again in the first half.
In her first start as a Tiger, junior goalkeeper Kira Reyes with the help of her defenders gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half.
The second half of the game seemed to start completely opposite of the first. Purdue came out and pressured the Mizzou defense as they kept Missouri stationed in their half of the field. Under four minutes into the second half, the Boilermakers got a shot off that was just beyond the reach of a diving Reyes and evened the score at 1-1.
Throughout the remainder of second half both teams battled back and forth pressuring each other offensively. The Tigers were able to work the ball out of their end as senior Kristen Heil ran the ball up the left side of field and sent a cross back to Peabody who deflected the ball past the Boilermaker keeper to give the Tigers the lead 2-1 with 13:30 remaining in the game.
The Tigers continued their stellar defense and held off Purdue to take their first win of the spring pre-season.
"This game was a good start to our spring season. Our girls really showed a lot of composure today as they came back and got the win," said Coach Bryan Blitz. "As a team we still have a lot of work to do, but we play these spring games to help us see what we still need to work on."
