COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou soccer returns home to Audrey J. Walton Stadium to host No. 3 Vanderbilt on Friday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. CT. The match marks the 15th meeting between the programs, with the all-time series tied 6-6-2. Missouri has owned the matchup at home, going 5-2-0 against the Commodores in Columbia, though Vanderbilt took the most recent meeting in Nashville 2-0 on Oct. 10, 2025.

PRE-MATCH PRESS
-Missouri returns home for its stiffest test of the season, hosting unbeaten Vanderbilt, which ranks No. 3 nationally.
-The Tigers picked up their first SEC point in a 1-1 draw at Arkansas, with senior Taryn Chance (Stafford, Va.)scoring to salvage the result.
-Missouri has had Vanderbilt’s number at home, going 5-2-0 against the Commodores at Audrey J. Walton Stadium all-time.
-Vanderbilt enters 11-0-1 (4-0-1 SEC) and has rolled through its schedule, outscoring opponents 43-9 behind senior Sydney Watts, one of the nation’s top scorers with 13 goals and 30 points.
-Ten of Missouri’s 15 goals have come in the second half, where the Tigers have outscored opponents 10-5.
-Missouri ranks second in the SEC in saves per game, with senior goalkeepers Riley Wilkerson (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) and Kate Phillips (Fishers, Ind.) combining for 47 saves.
-The Black & Gold’s offense has been balanced, with seven different players scoring Missouri’s 15 goals and freshmen Rylie Morse (Lebanon, Ohio) and Lana Adams (Perryville, Mo.) among three Tigers tied for the team lead at three apiece.
-Brianna Buels (Indianapolis, Ind.) owns the fastest goal in program history, scoring 14 seconds into the win at Murray State, and has been the Tigers’ most accurate shooter at 11-of-15 on target.
-Friday’s match kicks off at 6 p.m. CT at Audrey J. Walton Stadium and will air on SEC Network+, with live stats and in-match updates available at MUTigers.com and on X at @MizzouSoccer.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
-No. 3 Vanderbilt enters at 11-0-1 (4-0-1 SEC), unbeaten on the season and coming off a 2-0 home win over Kentucky on Oct. 2.
-The Commodores have outscored opponents 43-9 behind a 0.75 goals-against average.
-Senior Sydney Watts headlines a dynamic attack, ranking among the nation’s top scorers with 13 goals and 30 points, while sophomore Olivia Stafford leads the SEC with eight assists.
-Senior goalkeeper Alexa Gianoplus has anchored the back line with a .793 save percentage.
-Head coach Darren Ambrose has Vanderbilt ranked No. 3 nationally and near the top of the SEC at 4-0-1.

LAST TIME OUT
-Missouri earned its first SEC point in a 1-1 draw at Arkansas on Friday, Oct. 2, at Razorback Field, improving to 3-7-2 (0-4-1 SEC).
-Chance equalized in the 72nd minute, finishing a rebound from outside the box for her first goal of the season.
-Missouri controlled the run of play, finishing with 15 shots and six on goal, and had a Buels header waved off for offside in the first half.
-Wilkerson made four saves to help preserve the point.

THROUGH THE GAUNTLET
-Missouri drew a tough SEC opening, facing Oklahoma, Kentucky, Auburn, South Carolina and now-No. 23 Arkansas before hosting No. 3 Vanderbilt.
-Missouri claimed its first league point in a 1-1 draw at Arkansas, and four of its five SEC matches have been decided by two goals or fewer.

FIRST STRIKE
-Missouri is a perfect 3-0-0 this season when it scores the game’s first goal.
-When the opponent strikes first, the Tigers are 0-7-1, with their lone point coming in the draw at Arkansas.
-Their only scoreless match was a 0-0 draw at Western Kentucky.

SECOND-HALF TIGERS
-Ten of Missouri’s 15 goals have come in the second half, where the Tigers have outscored opponents 10-5.
-The Tigers have been outscored 10-5 before the break but have generated more offense late, taking 73 of their 136 shots in second halves.

BY THE NUMBERS
-Missouri ranks second in the SEC in saves per game (3.92).
-The Tigers sit ninth in the SEC in shot accuracy, putting 43.4 percent of their shots on target.
-Missouri has out-cornered its opponents 67-58 on the season.

SPREADING IT AROUND
-Missouri’s 15 goals have come from seven different scorers, with no player netting more than three.
-Morse, Landis Canada (Fenton, Mich.) and Adams share the team lead with three apiece, while Buels and Emily Derucki (Wildwood, Mo.) have added two each.
-Buels has been the most accurate of the group, putting 11 of her 15 attempts on target (.733).
-Canada, Adams and Derucki have each recorded a game-winner.

STRENGTH IN GOAL
-Missouri has leaned on an experienced senior tandem in goal, with Wilkerson and Phillips combining for 47 saves through 12 matches.
-Wilkerson leads the team with 24 saves and has started seven matches, including the 1-1 draw at Arkansas.
-Phillips owns a .786 save percentage and turned in a season-high eight saves against Auburn.

FRESHMEN FLASHES
-Freshmen have been central to the attack, led by Morse, who has put 12 of her 20 shots on target (.600) and shares the team lead with three goals.
-Morse scored the first two goals of her career on Senior Night against SEMO, a 5-0 win in which Adams added a first-half brace.
-Freshman Petra Bandula (Oakville, Ontario), who was called up to the Croatian U-19 National Team for the U-19 Nations Cup in Slovenia, has also chipped in a goal off the bench.

ANCHORED IN THE BACK
-Center backs Morgan Meador (Ballwin, Mo.) and Mia Yang (Leawood, Kan.) have been fixtures, with Meador logging a team-high 1,070 minutes and Yang 938 across the back line.
-Missouri posted three clean sheets in non-conference play, blanking Western Kentucky, Northern Illinois and SEMO.
-The back line and goalkeeping have kept Missouri competitive against a tough schedule.
-Midfielder McKenna Moran (Rowlett, Texas) and forward Mia Devrouax (Florissant, Mo.) have also logged heavy minutes for the Tigers.

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), with the only other run coming across Mizzou’s first five seasons (1996-2000).
-The Tigers set a program record with 15 Missouri natives on the 2025 roster.

HOME COOKING
-Mizzou drew a program-record 2,324 fans to the renovated Audrey J. Walton Stadium in the home opener against Saint Louis, making Missouri one of eight programs nationally to host 2,000-plus fans in at least two home matches.
-The renovation, funded by a gift from Audrey J. Walton (one of the 10 largest in Mizzou Athletics history and the largest ever dedicated to Olympic sports), added a new natural grass playing surface and subsurface improvements.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS
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