COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou soccer travels for the third time in its first four matches of the season as it takes on Missouri State at Bobby & Allison South Stadium on Sunday, August 23, at 4 p.m. The Tigers and Bears met in each of the Black and Gold’s first three seasons, then didn’t face off again until 2023, and have met in each of the four years since.

PRE-MATCH PRESS
-Missouri State went 7-9-4 in 2025 with a No. 172 final RPI under now sixth-year head coach Kirk Nelson.
-The Bears have opened 2026 with a pair of losses to Kansas and Kansas State.
-The Tigers picked up their first loss of 2026 against Saint Louis in their home opener, with a 17th-minute penalty kick proving to be the difference in the match.
-Despite the loss, Mizzou welcomed a program-record 2,324 to its first match at the newly renovated Audrey J. Walton Stadium.
-The Tigers flipped the run of play after halftime, out-shooting Saint Louis 4-3 over the final 45 minutes.
-Senior Brianna Buels (Indianapolis, Ind.) needed only seconds to strike and open the match against Murray State, scoring in a program-record 14 seconds. She finished with two goals, the second coming in the 67th minute.
-Emily Derucki (Wildwood, Mo.) followed Buels and was credited with the first game-winning goal of her career, putting Mizzou up 2-1 in the 50th minute, her third time finding the back of the net in her collegiate career.
-The forthcoming match is set for 4 p.m. at Bett & Bobby Allison South Stadium and will stream on ESPN+, with live stats and in-match updates available at MUTigers.com and on X at @MizzouSoccer.

TAKING THE PITCH
-Missouri enters its 31st season of competition in 2026.
-The Tigers return the majority of a roster that gained significant experience a season ago, including their top returning scorer, both starting center backs and both goalkeepers from 2025.
-Mizzou opened the year with two matches in Kentucky, playing Western Kentucky to a scoreless draw and winning at Murray State, 3-1, before falling in its home opener against Saint Louis, 1-0, on Thursday, Aug. 20.

FACILITY FACELIFT
-The Tigers return to an upgraded Audrey J. Walton Stadium for their home opener, part of a project funded by a landmark philanthropic gift from Audrey J. Walton announced in January 2025.
-The gift, one of the largest in Mizzou Athletics history and the largest ever dedicated to Olympic sports, funded a new natural grass playing surface and subsurface improvements.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
-Missouri State finished 7-9-4 before the eighth-seeded Bears all the way to the Conference USA Championship final in their first season in the league, where they fell to Liberty, 3-0.
-The Bears are led by head coach Kirk Nelson and now compete in Conference USA, the same league as Mizzou’s season-opening opponent, Western Kentucky.
-Missouri State standouts Ella Becker, Jane Hansen and Ellie Neath earned CUSA All-Tournament honors during last fall’s run.
-The Bears enter the contest after falling in their first two matches against Kansas and Kansas State.

LAST TIME OUT
-Missouri dropped its home opener to in-state rival Saint Louis, 1-0, on Thursday, Aug. 20, at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.
-Saint Louis converted a penalty kick in the 17th minute for the match’s only goal.
-The Billikens outshot the Tigers 10-4 and held an 8-3 edge in shots on goal.
-Phillips kept the deficit at one with seven saves, tied for the most in a single match in the SEC.
-The home opener drew a record crowd of more than 2,300 to the newly renovated Walton Stadium.

ACCURACY IS KEY
-Missouri’s offense has taken a sizable step forward compared to the opening three matches of 2025, putting 18 of its 33 shots on target, good for a .545 percentage compared to last year’s .333 at the same point.
-In fact, the team’s impressive shots on goal percentage ranks first in the Southeastern Conference.

THE CORE IS BACK
-Missouri returns the bulk of its 2025 roster, a young group that logged heavy minutes a season ago and comes back a year older.
-Buels, Canada and Yang were named to the 2026 SEC Soccer Preseason Watchlist, with all three earning their second straight watchlist nod after first being honored a season ago.
-The back line returns Yang and Meador, who started together throughout 2025.
-The midfield brings back Olivia Chianelli (Arlington Heights, Ill.), McKenna Moran (Rowlett, Texas), Ava Vetter (Clayton, Mo.), Aly Bryant (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) and Monica Brauner (Kansas City, Mo.), while the attack returns Buels, Derucki, Mia Devrouax (Florissant, Mo.), Canada and Landry Hopkins (Dardenne Prarie, Mo.).
-Phillips and Wilkerson both return in goal.
-The Tigers return at least 10 starters from a season ago, marking just the fourth time in program history Missouri has brought back double-digit starters, with all three previous teams reaching the NCAA Tournament.

TURNING THE PAGE
-Missouri opens a new season looking to build on the flashes it showed in 2025, when the Tigers pushed several ranked opponents and closed the year with back-to-back shutouts.
-Mizzou’s signature result came in its SEC opener: a 3-1 win over Texas, the program’s first multi-goal SEC-opening victory since 2017.
-The Tigers return that experience and a defensive foundation that kept them in matches all fall.
-The continuity has shown early. Through the first two matches, Missouri held a 29-19 edge in total shots and a 15-6 advantage in shots on goal while allowing just one goal.

STINGY IN THE BACKFIELD
-Defense was Missouri’s calling card in 2025: the Tigers dropped just two matches by three or more goals all season.
-The Tigers have allowed just two goals in 2026, blanking Western Kentucky in the opener while limiting the Hilltoppers to three shots on target before conceding one at Murray State and against Saint Louis.
-Center backs Yang and Meador, who played all but three minutes together in 2025, return to anchor the back line.

SIDELINE STAFF
-Missouri added Callie McKinney to Stefanie Golan’s staff as an assistant coach in May, arriving after a season at SMU and five at Bellarmine, where she served as head coach in 2024.
-At SMU, she helped the Mustangs to an 8-8-2 record against one of the nation’s toughest schedules; at Bellarmine, she guided the Knights to Division I-era program records for wins and ASUN victories in her lone season at the helm.
-A Franklin, Tenn., native, McKinney played at Louisville (2016-19), reaching the NCAA Tournament in each of her final two seasons.
-Missouri is one of three in the Power Four that lists nine or more women on staff roster pages (Georgia, Maryland).

STRENGTH IN GOAL
-Missouri returns an experienced, proven tandem in goal, with seniors Phillips and Wilkerson both back to compete for time between the posts after seeing starts in 2025.
-Phillips, a Fishers, Indiana, native, ranked among the top five in the SEC in total saves a season ago, starting all but the final two matches and holding opponents to one goal or fewer on numerous occasions.
-Wilkerson closed 2025 in form, making 13 saves across the Tigers’ final two matches, both of which were shutout draws, coming against Arkansas and Auburn.

SHOW-ME STATE
-Missouri’s 2026 roster features 10 in-state players, continuing one of the most home-grown stretches in program history.
-It marks just the second time the program has carried 10 or more Missourians in three or more consecutive seasons (2024–26); the only other run came across Mizzou’s first five seasons (1996–2000).
-The Tigers set a program record with 15 Missouri natives on the 2025 roster.

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