Sept. 7, 2006

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This Week
The Missouri women's soccer team returns home for matchups against non-conference opponents Northwestern State and Loyola-Chicago this weekend at Walton Stadium. Mizzou faces off against the Lady Demons on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. and returns to the fi eld on Sunday, Sept. 10 in a 1 p.m. contest against the Ramblers.

Tigers in the rankings
Thanks to two more shutout victories over the weekend, Missouri enters the national rankings in four different polls this week. The Tigers' highest ranking is No. 11 by Soccer America, followed by a No. 14 ranking by Soccer Buzz, No. 15 by Soccer Times.com and No. 18 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). The No. 14 ranking by Soccer Buzz is Missouri's highest ever by the website.
In addition to the national rankings, Soccer Buzz has Mizzou third in the Central Region while the NSCAA lists the Tigers fourth.

Last time out
For the second-straight season, Missouri represented the Big 12 Conference well in the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge. The Tigers started the weekend with a 4-0 win over Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., on Friday, Sept. 8. Freshman Michelle Collins got Mizzou on the board early in the fourth minute with her fi rst career goal and sophomore Ashley Hamblin recorded her fourth goal of the season six minutes later.
The Tigers went up 3-0 on sophomore Janelle Cordia's first career goal and freshman Bree Thornton scored Mizzou's fourth and final goal in the 82nd minute for her third of the year.
In a matchup with two unbeaten and unscored upon squads, the Tigers pulled out a hard fought 1-0 victory over Minnesota on Sunday, Sept. 3. The game went back and fourth early on before Mizzou upped its offensive pressure late in the first half. Cordia finally broke the scoreless tie in the 62nd minute when she launched a ball from outside the box. The ball sailed over the Golden Gopher goalie and just into the upper far post. The Tigers' lone goal was all the squad needed, as Mizzou's defense withstood Minnesota's late surge to post a 1-0 victory.

Tigers keep reaping awards
After helping the Mizzou defense to two shutouts over the weekend, freshman defender Crystal Wagner was named to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week. She is the second Tiger in as many weeks to make the team, after sophomore Ashley Hamblin earned the honors last week.

Shutout City
Missouri set a new program record with its fourth-consecutive shutout over Minnesota on Sunday, Sept. 3. The previous record was three-consecutive shutouts, which Mizzou accomplished two times before.

Mizzou on the rise
Thanks to the team's fast start, the Tigers are gaining national attention. This week Soccer Buzz called Missouri the "suprise team of the season so far."

Scouting Northwestern State
The Northwestern State Lady Demons enter Friday's game with wins over Lousiana-Monroe (2-1), LSU-Shreveport (1-0) and Centenary (2-0) and lost to Baylor (1-0) and Louisiana-Lafayette (2-0) for a 3-2 overall record.
Three different Lady Demons have scored this season for Northwestern State. Caroline Seago has one goal and an assist and Erin Hebert and Mya Walsh each have one goal on the year.
Goalkeeper Johnna Klohoker has played every minute in net this season and has a 80 percent save percentage with a 1.00 goals against average.
Series Record: First meeting

Scouting Loyola-Chicago
The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers are 3-1 on the season so far, including two road wins. The Ramblers have wins over Xavier (2-1), Valparaiso (1-0) and Creighton (2-1). Last time out, the squad fell to Eastern Illinois 2-1 in double overtime.
Cynthia Morote-Ariza has three of the Ramblers six goals on the season and one assist for seven points. Mary Dale, Amy Lomas and Laura Heidenreich have one goal apiece.
Goalie Emily Peick has played over 390 mintues in net with a 0.92 goal against average and a .833 save percentage.
Series Record: Tigers lead 5-1
Last meeting: MU 2, Loyola-Chicago 1

Mizzou among nation's finest
Missouri is ranked among the nation's best programs in a number of statistical categories. The squad is tied with 17 other programs for first in goals against average (0.0), shutout percentage (1.0), win-loss-tie percentage (1.0) and save percentage (1.0) and ranks 23rd in scoring offense (3.0). On the individual level, Mallory Forst is tied for first in goals against average (0.0) and save percentage (1.0) while Ashley Hamblin is 23rd in goals per game (1.0) and points per game (2.5).

Tigers in the Big 12
After two weekends of play, a number of Tigers are among the league's statistical leaders.
Ashley Hamblin is tied for first in points (10) and points per game (2.5), second in goals (four), tied for second in goals per game (1.0), tied for fifth in assists (two) and tied for seventh in assists per game (0.5). Bree Thornton is tied for third in goals (three), tied for fourth in points (seven) and goals per game (0.75) and tied for fifth in points per game (1.75). Michelle Collins is tied for fifth in assists (two), Janelle Cordia is tied for eighth in goals (two), while Collins, Cordia, Hamblin and Elyse Nikonchuk are tied for fourth in game-winning goals.

Awards Aplenty
Ashley Hamblin turned a lot of heads around the county after her three goal, two assist opening weekend against Iowa and No. 13 Illinois.
Most notably, she was named the SoccerTimes.com National Player of the Year, which marks the first time a Mizzou player earned a national player of the week award since Lacy Moore in 2002.
Hamblin was also named to the Soccer America and Soccer Buzz National teams of the week and earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors.

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.

She's a keeper
In each of her four career starts, sophomore goalkeeper Mallory Forst has recorded a shutout to set the Tiger record with four-consecutive shutouts. Forst has yet to give up a collegiate goal and boasts a perfect 1.00 save percentage.

Youngsters contribute
Coming into the season, Coach Blitz knew his fi ve freshmen would be impact players. The class was one of the most talented ever recruited for the Tigers, evidenced by its ranking as the 44th best class in the nation. After four games, the youngsters have lived up to their ranking. So far this season, Bree Thornton has three goals and an assist, Michelle Collins has one goal and two assists, Kristin Andrighetto has one goal and Bianca Pritchett has an assist.
Not to be outdone, Crystal Wagner was named to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week this week. Wagner was one of only two freshmen named to this week's team.

Against ranked teams
The Tigers' 5-0 upset of No. 13 Illinois on Aug. 25 was Mizzou's fi rst win over a ranked opponent since 2004. Last season, Missouri had a 0-5-1 record against ranked teams.

Still too early to tell
After an eighth-place league showing last season, the 2006 Missouri Tigers were to fi nish eighth in preseason rankings, which was voted on by the conference's head soccer coaches. Texas A&M was picked to finish first with seven first place votes while Nebraska and Texas each received two to come in second and third, respectively. Also selected in front of the Tigers were Colorado (fourth), Kansas (fifth), Oklahoma (sixth) and Oklahoma State (seventh).
So far it appears the Tigers were shortchanged in the preseason rankings, as the squad is the only Big 12 team with four victories.

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.