Sept. 21, 2006
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri soccer teams looks to rebound from its first loss of the season with two home contests this weekend, including the Big 12 Conference opener against Nebraska on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. Mizzou then plays Illinois State on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. in the squad's final non-conference game of the regular season. Both contests will be played at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.
Tigers in the rankings
Despite a loss to UW-Milwaukee on Sunday, Sept. 17, the Tigers are still ranked in three national polls. SoccerTimes.com has Mizzou at No. 14, SoccerBuzz lists the team at No. 17 and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America ranks the Tigers at No. 22. Soccer America dropped the squad out of its rankings this week.
In addition to the national rankings, SoccerBuzz lists Missouri fourth in the Central Region and the NSCAA has the Tigers in fifth.
Last time out
Last weekend, Mizzou traveled to Madison, Wis., to compete in the Wisconsin Soccer Classic. The Tigers faced host Wisconsin on Friday, Sept. 15 and improved their record consecutive win streak to seven with a 2-1 victory.
After play went back and forth for most of the first half, senior Elyse Nikonchuk gave Missouri a 1-0 advantage with 19 seconds remaining in the half. Nikonchuk stepped up to a 25-yard free kick and sent the ball into the upper portion of the net.
Three minutes into the second half, freshman Kristin Andrighetto put the Tigers on top 2-0 with her third goal of the season off feeds from redshirt-freshman Meghan Pfeiffer and sophomore Lindsay McCoy. The Badgers cut Mizzou's lead to 2-1 with a goal in the 62nd minute but Missouri's defense held on for their seventh victory of the season.
On Sunday, Sept. 17, UW-Milwaukee scored in the 13th minute and pulled out a tough 1-0 victory over the Tigers for Mizzou's first loss of the year. Missouri battled back and had numerous opportunites in the second half but could not manage to find the back of the net.
Andrighetto earns honors
Freshman Kristin Andrighetto was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Tuesday, thanks to her game-winning goal against Wisconsin on Sept. 15. Andrighetto is the second Tiger this season to earn a Big 12 honor, after sophomore Ashley Hamblin was the Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29.
Tigers post best start ever
The Tigers seven consecutive wins to start 2006 marks the best start in program history. Even with the loss to UW-Milwaukee on Sunday, Mizzou's 7-1 record still ranks as the best start. The 1999 squad was 6-1 to start the season and improved to 11-3 as the season progressed before ending the season with a 14-8-1 mark.
Quick goal
Sophomore Janelle Cordia's goal 44 seconds into Mizzou's 3-0 win over Northwestern State on Sept. 8 was the fastest goal scored in Missouri history. The previous record was 1:17, which former Tigers Amber Swinehart and Sarah Sallee both accomplished. Sallee set the previous record against Illinois on Sept. 12, 1999 while Swinehart repeated the feat against Oklahoma State on Oct. 14, 2002.
Shutout streak halted
The Tigers began the 2006 campaign with consecutive shutouts over Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota and Northwestern State before yielding two goals to Loyola-Chicago on Sunday, Sept. 10. The five consecutive shutouts set a new Tiger record.
Early scorers
In four of Missouri's eight games this season, the Tigers scored within the first four minutes of the match. Addi>tionally, nine of Mizzou's 20 goals have come in the opening 14 minutes of play and 12 were scored in the opening 45 minutes.
Leading Tigers
Before UW-Milwaukee's goal in the 13th minute, the Tigers had not trailed in a game this season. The goal halted a streak of 642:21 to start the season that Missouri either lead or was tied.
Changing of the guard?
Missouri and Nebraska have faced off 14 times since the Tigers began soccer in 1996 with the Huskers holding a 13-1 advantage in the all-time series. Mizzou's only win came in a 3-2 victory in the semifinals of the 2003 Big 12 Tournament.
Scouting Nebraska
After eight home games to start the season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers finally hit the road in their Friday night contest with the Tigers. The Huskers have wins over Iowa (1-0), North Texas (3-2), Drake (4-1), Western Carolina (1-0) and TCU (4-0) and suffered their lone loss against Central Michigan (2-1). Nebraska earned ties against Wright State (1-1) and Wisconsin (2-2).
All-American Brittany Timko leads the Huskers with 16 points on six goals and four assists while Jessie Bruch has nine points on four goals and one assist. Goalie Jamie Klages has a 0.83 goals against average with three shutouts.
Series Record: Nebraska leads 13-1
NU 3, MU 0 (2005)
Scouting Illinois State
The Illinois State Redbirds have a 3-3-1 on the season with wins over Northern Illinois (2-0), Oakland (3-0), and IPFW (4-0). The Redbirds suffered losses to Wisconin-Green Bay (1-0), Central Michigan (2-1) and Eastern Michigan and posted a tie against Dayton (0-0).
Amanda Wisniewski has four goals to pace the Redbirds while Mel Routledge and Jaclyn Rucinsky both have three goals. Keeper Andrea Shaw leads Illinois State in minutes played in net and has a 0.71 goals against average and a .840 save percentage.
Series Record: First meeting
Mizzou leads the way
As a team, the Tigers lead the Big 12 in a number of statistical categories, including: shots (154), points (60), assists (20), assists per game (2.5) and shut>outs (five). Mizzou is tied for first in goals (20), goals per game (2.5) and goals allowed (0.50) and is second in goals against average (0.50).
Tigers in the Big 12
Eight games in to the season, several Tigers are statistically ranked among the leaders of the conference.
Ashley Hamblin is tied for second in points (15) and assists (five), third in assists per game (0.62), tied for third in points per game (1.88), tied for fourth in goals (five) and tied for sixth in goals per game (0.62). Freshman Breanna Thornton is tied for sixth in goals (four), tied for seventh in points (10), tied for ninth in points per game (1.25) and goals per game (0.50). Sophomore Janelle Cordia and freshman Kristin Andrighetto are tied for second in game-winning goals (two).
In goalkeeping statistics, sophomore Mallory Forst leads the league in save percentage (.846), shutouts (four) and shutouts per game (0.50). The sophomore is also second in goals against average (0.51).
National attention
Ashley Hamblin turned a lot of heads around the county after her three goal, two assist opening weekend against Iowa and No. 13 Illinois.
For her effort, Hamblin was named the SoccerTimes.com National Player of the Week and earned spots on the Soccer Buzz Elite and Soccer American National teams of the week. Additionally, the Big 12 chose her as its Offensive Player of the Week.
Not to be outdone, freshman Crystal Wagner was named to the SoccerBuzz Elite Team of the Week last week for her help in Mizzou's shutout victories over Northwestern (4-0) and Minnesota (1-0). Wagner was a part of the Tiger defense that tied and eventually broke the team record for consecutive shutouts (five).
Shortchanged Tigers?
After a 9-8-3 season in 2005, the Tigers were selected to finish eighth in the Big 12 this season. Despite a loss in their last game, the Tigers still lead the league in win-loss-tie percentage (.875). Hopefully the Tigers can keep up their pace once league play starts, as conference standings are what counts in qualifiying for the Big 12 Tournament
Offensive Explosion
The seven goals Missouri scored against Iowa and Illinois was the most goals the program has scored in the season's opening weekend since 1999. That season, the Tigers also scored seven goals against Duke (2-1 loss) and Colorado (6-2 win).
The most goals Mizzou has scored in its first two games is nine, which it accomplished in 1998 after a 4-2 loss to Northwestern and a 7-0 win over Loyola. 1999 and 1998 also represent to most prolific scoring years in program history. The record for goals in a season is 61 set in 1999, followed closely behind with 58 in 1998.
Tigers in the WPSL
Seven current and one former Tiger played in the Women's Premier Soccer League, the second best women's soccer league in the world.
Janelle Cordia, Ashley Hamblin, Meghan Pfeiffer, Mo Redmond, Kat Tarr and former Tiger Jennifer Nobis helped the River Cities FC (St. Louis) to a league runner-up finish in the club's first year of existence. Nobis led the squad with 12 goals on the year and was named to the All-Final Four Team after recording a goal and an assist in the league semifinal.
Aria Hudetz and Maddie Senkosky played for the WPSL's Denver Diamonds, which advanced to the league playoffs.
Mark your calendars
The Missouri soccer team will hold its annual banquet on December 9, 2006. Festivities will start at 6:30 p.m. while the silent auction will begain at 5:45 p.m.