Soccer Looks To Continue Fast Start This Weekend
8/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Aug. 31, 2006
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri women's soccer team looks to continue its fast start this weekend as the squad travels to Northwestern and Minnesota as part of the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge. The Tigers will face the Wildcats on Friday, Sept. 1 at 3 p.m. in Evanston, Ill., before traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 1 p.m. contest against Minnesota on Sunday, Sept. 3
This weekend marks the third and fourth games against Big Ten opponents for Missouri in 2006 with one game remaining against Wisconsin on Sept. 15.
Tigers in the rankings
The Missouri Tigers enter three national polls this week after a
5-0 drubbing of previously No. 13 Illinois on Sunday, Aug. 27. Soccer America has the Tigers in at No. 17, Soccer Times lists the Tigers at No. 21 and SoccerBuzz ranks the squad No. 30. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America does not publish its first in-season poll until next week.
This week's ranking marks the first time since Sept. 5, 2000 that Mizzou is ranked by Soccer Times, when the squad came in at No. 20. In SoccerBuzz's poll, the Tigers ranked No. 29 on Sept. 26, 2005. Before that, the last time Missouri was ranked by SoccerBuzz was Sept. 4, 2000 (No. 25).
Mizzou made the biggest jump in the SoccerBuzz Central Region Poll this week, going from receiving votes to fifth.
Last time out
The Tigers opened 2006 in impressive fashion with two wins against Big Ten opponents to claim the Tiger Invitational Title. Mizzou started things off of Friday, Aug. 25 with a 2-0 win over Iowa thanks to goals from sophomore Ashley Hamblin and freshman Kristin Andrighetto. Hamblin scored the game-winner in the 11th minute on a penalty kick and earned an assist on Anrighetto's first collegiate goal in the 58th minute.
Two days later, the Tigers had no trouble with No. 13 Illinois in a 5-0 victory. Hamblin was the offensive star once again with goals in the 11th and 13th minutes off assists from sophomore Kat Tarr and freshman Michelle Collins, respectively.
Mizzou opened scoring early with a goal off a set piece in the third minute. Senior Meggie Malm floated a ball to the top of the box that fellow senior Elyse Nikonchuk headed into the goal.
Freshman Breanna Thornton scored Missouri's fourth and fifth goals in the 48th and 77th minutes off assists from Collins and Hamblin to propel the Tigers to the Invitational Title.
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 SoccerBuzz National teams of the week and earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors.
All-Tourney Tigers
Following the Tiger Invitational, coaching staffs voted on an All-Tournament Team. The team includes four Missouri Tigers, three Iowa Hawkeyes, two Illinois Fighting Illini and two South Carolina GameCocks.
Mallory Forst (Missouri)
Ashley Hamblin (Missouri
Bree Thornton (Missouri)
Crystal Wagner (Missouri)
Ali Becker (Iowa)
Melisa Kaetterhenry (Iowa)
Sarah Stephenson (Iowa)
Marti Desjarlais (Illinois)
Kristy Weeks (Illinois)
Kimmy Gillespie (South Carolina)
Blakely Mattern (South Carolina)
Scouting Northwestern
After the first weekend of play, Northwestern stands at 2-1 with a 2-1 win over Depaul and a 2-1 overtime loss to Kentucky. The Wildcats were picked to finish 10th in the 11 team league.
Junior Shannon Schneeman leads the squad with two goals early in the season while junior Kelsey Hans has one goal and senior Tori Bohannon has an assist. In net for Northwestern is junior Lauren Johnston, who posted nine saves and a 1.42 goal-against-average last weekend.
Series Record: Northwestern leads 3-2
Last meeting: MU 2, NU 1 (OT) (2004)
Scouting Minnesota
The Minnesota Golden Gophers picked up a 3-0 win over Drake and a 2-0 win against North Dakota State for a 2-0-0 record. Also a Big Ten program, Minnesota came in seventh in the league preseason poll.
The Golden Gophers are lead by redshirt-freshman Elena Fruci, who posed three goals in Minnesota's two games. Sophomore Lindsay Schwartz has four points (one goal, two assists), sophomore Kaitlin Wagner has one goal and sophomore Clare Grimwood has two assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Lindsey Dare made 17 saves in the two wins with two shutouts.
Series Record: Wisconsin leads 1-0
Last meeting: Wis. 2, MU 1 (2004)
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
Sophomore goalkeeper Mallory Forst earned her first two career starts in goal against Iowa and No. 13 Illinois for the Tigers last weekend and did not disappoint. The Ballwin, Mo., native posted shutouts in both games and made two saves against the Hawkeyes and five against the Fighting Illini.
Youngsters play...
Despite the leadership of four seniors, this year's Mizzou squad is one of the youngest in the conference. 14 of 19 Tigers on this year's roster are freshmen or sophomores, which is reflected in the starting lineup. Eight freshmen and sophomores started in the game against Iowa and nine earned starts against No. 13 Illinois.
...and contribute
Coming into the season, Coach Blitz knew his five 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.
Their play in the opening weekend validated those rankings. Bree Thornton recorded two goals against No. 13 Illinois, Michelle Collins earned to assists in the game against the Fighting Illini and Kristin Andrighetto scored a goal in the win over Iowa.
Additionally, both Crystal Wagner and Bianca Pritchett made their presence known. Wagner saved a sure goal against Iowa after heading away a Hawkeye shot and was named to the Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Still too early to tell
After an eighth-place league showing last season, the 2006 Missouri Tigers were to finish 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).
Tigers in the Big 12
After only one weekend of play, a number of Tigers are among the league's statistical leaders, led by Ashley Hamblin.
Hamblin leads the conference in points (eight) and points per game (4.0), tied for first in goals (three), goals per game (1.5) and game-wining goals (one) and is tied for third in assists (two) and assists per game (1.0). Mallory Forst ranks tied for first in goals against average (0.00), save percentage (1.000), shutouts (two) and shutouts per game (1.0) and is fourth in saves (seven) and saves per game (3.5).
Michelle Collins is tied for third in assists (two) and assists per game (1.0), Bree Thornton is tied for third in goals (two), goals per game (1.0) and Elyse Nikonchuk is tied for first in game-winning goals (one).
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.
