COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou soccer heads to Columbia, S.C., for its first top-25 test of the season, facing the No. 17 South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 1 p.m. CT at the South Carolina Soccer Complex’s Eugene E. Stone III Stadium. This will mark the 14th meeting between the programs, with South Carolina holding a 9-3-1 edge in the all-time series. The sides last met in a 1-1 draw at Audrey J. Walton Stadium on Oct. 8, 2023.
PRE-MATCH PRESS
-Missouri returns to the road to continue SEC play, looking to find it’s first conference win of the year against a top-25 opponent.
-The Tigers have dropped their three SEC matches by a combined five goals, falling to Oklahoma, Kentucky and Auburn to open league play.
-Senior goalkeeper Kate Phillips (Fishers, Ind.) turned in a season-high eight saves in Thursday’s match against Auburn, seven of them coming in the second half.
-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.
-Sunday’s match kicks off at 1 p.m. CT at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in Columbia, S.C., and will air 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 home opener against Saint Louis.
-Those crowds rank nationally, too: Missouri is one of eight programs in the country to host 2,000-plus fans in at least two home matches in 2026.
-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
-No. 17 South Carolina enters at 9-1-0 (3-0-0 SEC), unbeaten in league play and coming off a 2-0 home win over Kentucky on Sept. 24, with wins over Florida (1-0) and at LSU (3-1) in its other conference outings.
-The Gamecocks have been strong at both ends, outscoring opponents 22-6 behind six shutouts and a 0.60 team goals-against average.
-Sophomore Ava Tutas and senior forward Sydney Middaugh share the team lead with 10 points apiece, each with four goals, and Middaugh’s three game-winners pace the group.
-Senior goalkeeper Christina Tsaousis has an .815 save percentage and an individual goals-against average of 0.56.
LAST TIME OUT
-Missouri fell 2-0 at home to Auburn on Thursday, Sept. 24, at Audrey J. Walton Stadium, dropping to 3-6-1 (0-3-0 SEC).
-Auburn scored twice in the first half, in the 17th and 20th minutes.
-Phillips kept Missouri within reach with a season-high eight saves, seven of them in the second half.
-Morse provided the Tigers’ best pressure, taking three of their four first-half shots.
BY THE NUMBERS
-Missouri’s goalkeeping ranks among the SEC’s best, sitting second in the conference in saves per game (3.90) and third in save percentage (.780).
-The Tigers are putting 44.8 percent of their shots on target, sixth-best in the SEC.
-Morse ranks fifth in the SEC in shot accuracy (.600).
-Morse, Canada and Adams share the team lead with three goals apiece, with Canada and Adams each recording a game-winner.
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 of 2025.
-The continuity has shown early. Through 10 matches, Missouri holds a 116-85 edge in total shots.
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 and have lost by more than a goal just twice in 2026.
-The Tigers have allowed just 11 goals in 2026, holding their opponents to one or fewer scores in seven of 10 matches this season.
-Missouri recorded clean sheets against Western Kentucky, Northern Illinois and SEMO and held Murray State, Saint Louis, Missouri State and Creighton to a single goal apiece; only Oklahoma (three), Kentucky and Auburn (two) have scored multiple times.
-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 in 2026.
-Phillips, 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. She carries a .857 save percentage across four starts.
-Riley Wilkerson (San Luis Obispo, Calif.), who closed 2025 with 13 saves across back-to-back shutout draws, earned the win at Murray State and blanked Northern Illinois with four saves, and leads the team with 20 saves this fall.
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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