May 4, 2005

Columbia, Mo. -- After four weeks of battling opponents to earn a perfect record, the Tigers capped their spring season with a game against some familiar faces. With Head Coach Bryan Blitz as referee, the Tigers played its annual Alumni game.

"It always warms my heart to have the chance to spend time with so many of our past players that have made the Mizzou soccer family such great thing to be a part of," Coach Blitz said. "Last night and today was so much fun for everyone involved and I can't thank our alumni enough for continuing to be an awesome part of our program."

Highlighting as the ninth season Mizzou has had a women's program, the alumni team was made up of players from the original season all the way to last fall's seniors. While soccer was the reason for the gathering, the focus was instead on having a good time.

Calling frequent substitutions, including breaks to eat cookies on the sideline, and goalkeepers Kira Reyes and Laura Buehrig playing as forwards for the final minutes, the game was successful in its goal of creating a fun atmosphere.

In the actual game, the alumni scored a late equalizer to send the game into penalty kicks. Without paying much attention to the score, the players instead competed for style, using somersaults, cartwheels and other maneuvers to try and outdo the previous shooter.

"After nine seasons it is still amazing to see how our current players mix with previous players and I think today it showed that they really enjoy spending time with each other every year at this event," Coach Blitz said. "Today was a great way to finish off an exciting spring for all of us."