COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou soccer returns to Audrey J. Walton Stadium for its first Southeastern Conference match in Columbia as it plays host to the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m. This will mark the 17th meeting between the programs, with Missouri going 1-0-1 in the previous two meetings in the Show-Me State.

PRE-MATCH PRESS
-Missouri continues its conference schedule against Kentucky, marking the first match played in Columbia between the two programs since 2022.
-Friday’s match is the SEC home opener for the Tigers, who hold a 7-6-0 record in such matches since joining the conference in 2012.
-The Black & Gold will look to win their second consecutive home opener in conference action after beating Texas 3-1 in 2025. 
-Brianna Buels (Indianapolis, Ind.) needed only seconds to strike 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.) was credited with her first game-winning goal in the team’s win against the Racers, putting Mizzou up 2-1 in the 50th minute, her third time finding the back of the net in her collegiate career.
-Rylie Morse (Lebanon, Ohio) notched the first two goals of her career on Senior Night, as the freshman found the net in the 15th and 65th minutes of Missouri’s 5-0 win over SEMO.
-Freshman Lana Adams (Perryville, Mo.) set the tone with a pair of first-half goals against the Redhawks, striking in the 11th and 23rd minutes to record her first multi-goal game and pull even with Landis Canada (Fenton, Mich.) for the team lead at three goals.
-Friday’s match is set for 6 p.m. at Audrey J. Walton Stadium and will stream on SEC Network+, with live stats and in-match updates available at MUTigers.com and on X at @MizzouSoccer.

HOME COOKING
-Mizzou welcomed a total of 4,393 fans to the newly renovated Walton Stadium in its first two home matches of the season, including a program-record 2,324 attendees in the season opener against Saint Louis.
-Those crowds rank nationally, too: Missouri is one of six programs in the country to host 2,000-plus fans in at least two home matches in 2026 (Michigan State, South Carolina, Tennessee, BYU, Texas Tech).
-The renovation, made possible by Audrey J. Walton’s donation, which marked 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
-Kentucky enters at 5-3-0, coming off a 3-2 win over Texas A&M in its SEC opener on Sept. 11.
-The Wildcats are led by freshman Kyla Dawn, a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week who scored a hat trick in a 9-1 win over Wright State and ranks as the SEC’s most accurate shooter.
-Kentucky boasts one of the nation’s most potent attacks, tied with Vanderbilt for the SEC’s best scoring offense at 4.0 goals per game, which ranks fourth nationally.
-Fifth-year head coach Troy Fabiano guided the Wildcats to a 12-4-5 mark in 2025, marking the winningest season of his tenure, and has led them to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.

LAST TIME OUT
-Missouri dropped its SEC opener 3-1 at Oklahoma on Friday, Sept. 11, at John Crain Field in Norman, falling to 3-4-1 against a Sooners side that entered unbeaten.
-Oklahoma struck early and often, scoring in the ninth minute and building a 3-0 lead by the 28th before -Derucki got the Tigers on the board in the 49th minute, converting an Adams assist for her second goal of the season.
-Senior goalkeeper Riley Wilkerson (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) made a season-best six saves as Oklahoma outshot Missouri 13-7.

BY THE NUMBERS
-Missouri remains among the national leaders in corner kicks, averaging 7.38 per game to rank 23rd nationally and in the top half of the SEC.
-The Tigers rank second in the SEC in save percentage (.806).
-Missouri sits fifth in the SEC in shot accuracy, putting 47.5 percent of its shots on target.
-Adams and Canada share the team lead with three goals apiece, each with a game-winner this season.

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 Mia Yang (Leawood, Kan.) 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 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 opened 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 2025.
-The continuity has shown early. Through the first eight matches, Missouri held a 101-59 edge in total shots and a 48-36 advantage in shots on goal while allowing less than a goal per game.

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 seven goals in 2026, holding their opponents to one or fewer scores in six matches this season.
-The team recorded clean sheets against Western Kentucky, NIU and SEMO while conceding a goal apiece to Murray State, Saint Louis, Missouri State and Creighton.
-Center backs Yang and Morgan Meador (Ballwin, Mo.), who played all but three minutes together in 2025, return to anchor the back line.

STRENGTH IN GOAL
-Missouri has leaned on an experienced, proven tandem in goal, with seniors Phillips and Wilkerson splitting starts to open 2026.
-Kate Phillips (Fishers, Ind.), who ranked among the top five in the SEC in total saves a season ago, opened the year with her seventh career shutout in a scoreless draw at Western Kentucky and turned in a seven-save effort against Saint Louis.
-Wilkerson, who closed 2025 with 13 saves across back-to-back shutout draws, has earned the win at Murray State and blanked Northern Illinois with a season-high four saves.

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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