Oct. 31, 2005
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COLUMBIA, Mo.-The eighth-seeded Missouri Tigers travel to San Antonio for a matchup against top-seeded Texas A&M on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 11:00 a.m. in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. The Tigers hope that history repeats itself, as the 2003 Tigers became the first eighth seed to upset the top seed en route to the championship game.
Live stats for Wednesday's game are available on the Big 12 website
EIGHT IS GREAT In 2003, the Tigers became the first eight seed to knock off the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament after dismantling Colorado 2-0 in the quarterfinals. Missouri went on to beat No. 4 Nebraksa 3-2 in the semifinals before falling in the championship game to No. 7 Oklahoma State 3-2 in double-overtime.
Over eight tournaments, Missouri holds an 8-8 record. The Tigers have five semifinal appearances and made the championship game in 1998, 1999 and 2003. Four of the Tigers' 16 games have gone to overtime, including a dramatic quadruple-overtime affair against Texas in the 2001 semifinals. In those four game, Missouri has a 1-3 record.
LAST TIME OUT Missouri entered the regular season finale against Border Showdown rival Kansas with its Big 12 Tournament berth still up in the air. A win or tie or a loss or tie by Oklahoma State would propel the Tigers into the tournament. The Tigers surrendered a goal in the third minute to Caroline Smith to fall behind 1-0 early. In the 22nd minute, senior forwards Jennifer Nobis and Amber Swinehart combined to tie the score at 1-1 when Nobis played a ball up to Swinehart, who drilled a shot from just inside the box. Just 41 seconds into the second half, the duo struck again. This time, Swinehart flicked a ball up to Nobis, whose shot was deflected off a Jayhawk defender and into the net for a 2-1 Tiger lead. Kansas tied the game 11 minutes later with a goal from Michelle Rasmussen to send the game into overtime. The 2-2 score held up until the 104th minute of play when Holly Gault found the net for the game-winner in double-overtime.
DYNAMIC DUO Senior forwards Jennifer Nobis and Amber Swinehart have combined for 49 percent of the Tigers' points this season with 28 and 25, respectively, which ranks fifth and sixth in the conference. Swinehart leads the squad and is third in the Big 12 with 12 goals on the season, including six game-winners. Nobis set Missouri single-season records with 14 assists and six game-winning assists (all of which lead to Swinehart goals) in 2005. Nobis also has seven goals on the year.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M Big 12 regular season champions Texas A&M enter the matchup with Missouri with a 5-0-1 record in its last six games. During the regular season, the Aggies downed Stephen F. Austin, TCU, East Carolina, Washington, Stanford, Missouri, Kansas, Boise State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas Tech and Baylor. Texas A&M fell to Michigan State, Texas and Iowa State and tied Michigan, and Oklahoma State.
The Aggies are led offensively by the sophomore tandem of Melissa Garey and Ashlee Pistorius, who both lead the Big 12 with 15 goals. Pistorius has 10 assists for a conference-high 40 points and Garey also has four assists on the year. Senior Kati Jo Spisak anchors the Aggies in goal with a 0.72 goal against average and.780 save percentage.
LAST MEETING The Tigers and Aggies met on Sept. 23 in Columbia, Mo. to kickoff Big 12 play as Texas A&M came away with a 3-2 win. Senior forward Amber Swinehart got the Tigers on the board in the eighth minute when she received a pass from senior forward Jennifer Nobis and knocked in a six-yard shot. Ashlee Pistorius tied the game eight minutes later but Missouri retook the lead when junior midfielder Aria Hudetz found freshman midfielder Mo Redmond on a corner for the Tigers' second goal. However, the Aggies struck again three mintues later to even the score and eventually scored the game-winner in the 73rd minute.
SERIES HISTORY This year's tournament game marks the first time Missouri and Texas A&M have met in the postseason. Here is a year-by-year breakdown of the regular season series:
1996: Texas A&M 6, Missouri 0
1997: Missouri 1, Texas A&M 0
1998: Texas A&M 2, Missouri 1
1999: Texas A&M 5, Missouri 2
2000: Texas A&M 3, Missouri 1
2001: Texas A&M 5, Missouri 2
2002: Texas A&M 5, Missouri 3
2003: Missouri 5, No. 4 Texas A&M 4 (OT)
2004: Missouri 2, No. 6 Texas A&M 1
2005: Texas A&M 3, Missouri 2
SECOND HALF SQUAD Of Missouri's 36 goals this season, 25 have come in the final 45 minutes of play. The only Tiger who has more first half than second half goals with more than one tally on the season is freshman midfielder Mo Redmond (three first half, one second half). Of the Tigers' top three scorers, senior forward Jennifer Nobis has the greatest disparity with six second half goals to only one goal in the final 45 minutes. Missouri's opponents score most of their goals in the first half, with 14 against only nine in the second half. Additionally, in 74 minutes of overtime played by the Tigers, Missouri has been held scoreless while Tiger opponents scored one goal.
LEADING THE WAY With an assist against Kansas on Friday, senior forward Jennnifer Nobis ranks seventh nationally in assists per game (0.82). Three Tigers finished the regular season ranked in the top five in Big 12 Conference statistics. Nobis leads the conference in shots per game (5.29), is second in total assists (14) and assists per game (0.82), tied for third in total shots (90) and is fifth in points (28) and points per game (1.65). Senior Amber Swinehart is tied for the league lead in game-winning goals (six), tied for third in goals (12) and is fourth in goals per game (0.63). Sophomore goalie Laura Buehrig ranks third in saves (95), tied for third in saves per game (5.00) and tied for fourth in shutouts (five).
RECORD WATCH As of Oct. 30, three Tigers find themselves ranked in the top 10 in Missouri's career record book. Senior Jennifer Nobis is first in game-winning assists (nine), third in points (90), assists (28), game-winning goals (nine), shots (259) and shots on goal (121) and is tied for third in goals (31). Senior Amber Swinehart is third in games played (83), tied for fourth in game-winning goals (seven), sixth in shots (140) and eighth in shots on goal (61). Senior Erica Pusch is fifth in games started (75) and seventh in games played (81). Sophomore goalkeeper Laura Buehrig finds herself ranked second in goals allowed (53), third in goals against average (1.43), wins (16), shutouts (seven), minutes in goal (3315:32), third in games played (37) and games started (37) and fourth in saves (166).