Missouri Soccer Season Recap
12/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Dec. 21, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - With a penchant for late-game heroics and rallies, the 2005 Missouri women's soccer team was not taken lightly by opponents. As evidenced by a last second win against the College of Charleston, a late goal to send the Oklahoma game into overtime or two near comebacks against Colorado and Texas A&M, the Tigers never gave up. Saddled with a tough schedule with matchups against nine teams that were nationally ranked at some point in the season and the ever-tough Big 12 programs, Mizzou more than held its own.
The Tigers opened their 2005 campaign on the road against two of the top teams in the country. After falling 2-0 to No. 25 Arizona on Aug. 26, Missouri bounced back to post a hard-fought 0-0 double-overtime tie against No. 17 California. Sophomore goalkeeper Laura Buehrig earned her third career shutout as the Tigers used the tie to jump-start a six-game unbeaten streak.
Mizzou returned home to Walton Stadium in search of its first win in the Big 12/Big 12 Challenge. Against Indiana on Sept. 2, senior forward Jennifer Nobis scored Missouri's first goal of the season as the Tigers prevailed 2-0. With a 2-1 win over Purdue on Sept. 4, Missouri became the only Big 12 school to win both games in the Big 12/Big 10 Challenge and posted two of the five total Big 12 victories.
On Sept. 8, Missouri's offense came alive as six different players scored in the team's 7-0 win over Arkansas State. Tigers Anne Baxter, Carolina Pohl, Mo Redmond and Lauren Vineyard scored their first collegiate goals for Mizzou and the Tigers tied a team single-game record with nine assists.
Missouri's offensive onslaught followed the team to Iowa as senior forward Amber Swinehart found the back of the net less than three minutes into the match. The Tigers added four more goals on the day for a 5-0 win to up their two game goal total to 12. The win also improved Missouri's record against Big 10 teams to 3-0 on the season.
In their matchup with the College of Charleston on Sept. 16, the Tigers tied a team record with 39 shots but still had not found the back of the net with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Not wanting to send the game into overtime, Missouri earned a corner in the final minute and Nobis headed home the corner kick from junior Midfielder Aria Hudetz for the game winner with a mere 20 seconds on the clock. With a third-straight shutout, Missouri tied the school record for consecutive shutouts set in 2001.
After a 1-0 loss to No. 17 Cal Poly on Sept. 18, Missouri kicked off Big 12 Conference play against No. 14 Texas A&M at home. The Tigers stayed with the conference's most dangerous team but could not hold on as the Aggies came away with a 3-2 win. The Tigers led at two points in the game but the Aggies scored the only goal of the second half to pull away. Mizzou earned its first conference win with a 2-1 defeat of Baylor on Sept. 25 and was rewarded the following day by SoccerBuzz as No. 29 in their Top 30 National Rankings.
A 1-1 tie at Iowa State on Sept. 30 and a 3-0 loss at Nebraska on Oct. 2 left the Tigers longing for the comfy confines of Walton Stadium. On Oct. 7, the Tigers returned home to face off against an 11-1 Oklahoma squad in front of the second largest crowd in program history. Mizzou did not disappoint, as senior defender Erica Pusch knocked in the game-tying goal in the 86th minute as the Tigers held on for a 1-1 tie. Two days later, Missouri earned the 100th win in the program's history after dismantling Oklahoma State 3-0 in a game littered with physical play.
Against the Colorado Buffs on Oct. 14, Missouri fell behind 3-0 early in the second half before netting two unanswered goals to cut Colorado's lead to 3-2 with 16 minutes remaining. The Tigers' rally fell short as they could not convert several scoring opportunities in the closing minutes. Missouri rebounded with an impressive 4-1 at Texas Tech as Swinehart scored two goals on the day.
In true form, the Tigers closed their home schedule with a 1-0 win against Colorado College on Senior Day. Fittingly, seniors Nobis and Swinehart connected for the game-winner in the 85th minute in their last game at Walton Stadium.
Mizzou entered the regular season finale on Oct. 28 against Kansas in need of a win, tie or a Oklahoma State loss or tie to send the squad to San Antonio for the Big 12 Championship. The Tigers battled back from an early Kansas goal to knot the score at 1-1 after Nobis found Swinehart the 22nd minute. With the assist, Nobis set a new Tiger record in for assists in a season with 14. Just 41 seconds into the second half, Missouri scored again to take a 2-1 lead but the Jayhawks answered with a goal of their own to send the game into overtime. Four minutes into the second overtime, Kansas netted the game-winner to give Missouri a 3-2 loss and a 9-7-3 regular season record. Thanks to a Oklahoma State loss, the Tigers earned the eighth seed in the Big 12 Championship to set up a rematch against the top-seeded and No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies.
The Aggies dominated much of the first half but entered the final 45 minutes with a small 1-0 advantage. After another Texas A&M goal, the Tiger offense began to pressure the Aggie defense and finally came away with just one goal in the 86th minute as three seniors playing in their final game for Mizzou ignited the scoring attack. From the right endline, Pusch sent a cross into the box that Swinehart flicked back to Nobis, who tapped the ball into the lower right netting to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Aggies responded in the game's final minute to end Missouri's season with a 9-8-3 record.
Despite the up and down play for Missouri, the Tigers had a lot to celebrate during the season. The 1,774 fans who watched the match against Oklahoma marked the second highest attendance for a game in program history, falling just 148 short of the record; the senior class of Nobis, Pusch, Kira Reyes and Swinehart recorded 41 wins in their four years for an average of over 10 wins per season.; junior midfielder Elyse Nikonchuk was named to the All-Big 12 second team for the second straight season; three Tigers earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors during the season, the most for Missouri since 2002. Buehrig got the ball rolling on Sept. 6 with Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week accolades and was followed by Mo Redmond and Kat Tarr, who were named Big 12 Newcomers of the Week on Sept. 13 and Oct. 11, respectively.
Proving the Tigers excel in the classroom as well as on the field, seven Tigers earned academic honors after the season. Buehrig, Lauren Grice, Meggie Malm, Pusch and Reyes earned Academic All-Big 12 first team honors while Hudetz and Swinehart were named to the second team. On the national level, Malm was named to the ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA All-Region VII first team and Grice earned second team honors. As a first team member, Malm is eligible for ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-America® teams to be announced Nov. 22.
The Tigers fell short of their goal to make the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history but with 10 freshmen on the roster in 2005, the future looks bright for Missouri.
