Full Notes (PDF)
Season Stats (PDF)
Week At-a-Glance:
With just six matches remaining in the 2009 regular season, the Truman women’s soccer team is set to wrap up its home slate with a pair of matches against Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western this Thursday and Saturday.
Truman (10-2-2, 9-1 MIAA) has been nearly perfect at home this season, compiling a 7-0-2 mark on its home pitch and surrendering just two goals. Thursday’s contest with NWMSU (9-3-1, 5-3-1 MIAA) was scheduled originally to be the final home regular season match of the season, but a change of venue on Oct. 1 against MWSU (5-9, 3-7 MIAA) forced the squads to flip the locations of the two contests this year.
The Bulldogs continue to hold a slim three-point edge on Nebraska-Omaha (9-4, 8-1 MIAA) in the conference race, though UNO has played one less MIAA match to this point. The Bulldogs and Mavericks split the regular season series, with each defending home turf.
Truman is sporting an eight-match winning streak - the longest since 2004 for the program - and will look to complete season sweeps of the Bearcats and Griffons at home this week.
Schedule:
Truman vs. Northwest Missouri; 3 pm, Thursday
Truman vs. Missouri Western; 12 pm, Saturday
Following the Team:
Bulldog box scores and match recaps will be available immediately following each match on Truman’s Web site: gobulldogs.truman.edu.
Live stats for all home matches in 2009 are available by accessing the following link: http://gobulldogs.truman.edu/livestats/soccer/xlive.htm
Bulldog Coaching Staff:
Mike Cannon is in his 17th season as the program’s head coach, having compiled a 226-78-29 (.722) overall record at Truman. He has guided the purple and white to eight (of ten) MIAA championships and has reached the NCAA tournament seven times.
He is assisted by Martin Clayes, who is in his second season at Truman as a member of the coaching staff following a four-year stint as a player on the men’s soccer team.
Scouting the Opposition:
Northwest Missouri (9-3-1, 5-3-1 MIAA)
Last Time vs. NWMSU: Sept. 10, 2009 - Senior Katie Reuck guided the Truman women’s soccer team to a win in Maryville for the second straight season, logging a goal in the 79th minute to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 win at Northwest Missouri State to kick off MIAA play.
Reuck waited two more minutes this time around to score the game-winner, as the two-time all-MIAA midfielder performed nearly the same feat in 2008 – scoring the in 77th minute to help lead Truman to a 3-2 win against the Bearcats. However, Reuck’s goal in 2009 helped the Bulldogs snap a three-match winless streak, as the purple and white had gone to extra time in all three matches to record a pair of ties after a road loss.
Truman wasted no time getting on the board against a Bearcat team that entered the match with a perfect 4-0 record, as freshman Kelsey Twellman scored her first collegiate goal in just the sixth minute off a pass from redshirt freshman Heather Niebling. Twellman lobbed her shot over the hands of Bearcat goalkeeper Kira Lazenby to give the Bulldogs the early lead.
Less than 10 minutes later, however, NWMSU responded as Heidi Sobota scored her first goal of the season off a free kick just outside the Truman box.
Then, with just 11:24 remaining on the clock, Reuck gave the Bulldogs the lead for good off a pass from junior Beth Bystrom. It was the seventh game-winning tally for Reuck as a Bulldog and the first assist credited to Bystrom.
Missouri Western (5-9, 3-7 MIAA)
Last Time vs. MWSU: Oct. 3, 2009 – Freshman forward Olivia Hayes gave the Truman women’s soccer team three big points in the MIAA standings, as her free kick goal with just 25 seconds remaining in the second overtime period gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 road win at Missouri Western State University.
The two squads seemed destined for a draw before a foul just outside the box by the Griffons set Hayes up to be the hero. Hayes delivered, notching her eighth goal of the season and ending the contest in dramatic fashion.
The Bulldogs recorded their fifth straight shutout behind sophomore goalkeeper Jayne Grisham’s six saves.
It was the fourth overtime – and third double-overtime – match of the year for Truman, who improved to 1-1-2 when faced with extra time. The Bulldogs out-shot Missouri Western, 18-10, and took five corner kicks while preventing the Griffons from attempting any.
Senior Katie Reuck took a team-high five shots, while both Hayes (3) and freshman Kelsey Twellman (2) each attempted multiple shots on goal.
Series Info:
Truman vs. Northwest Missouri (Truman leads all-time series, 19-0).
This year: Truman won, 2-1, on Sept. 10, in Maryville.
Truman vs. Missouri Western (Truman leads all-time series, 9-0).
This year: Truman won, 1-0, on Oct. 3, in St. Joseph.
Quick Kicks:
- The 2-1 win on Monday marked the 15th straight season of 10+ wins for the Bulldog soccer team. It was also the 17th season in program history with double-digit wins. The Bulldogs are the winningest MIAA women’s soccer program.
- The Bulldogs’ shutout streak reached 685 minutes before being broken in Monday afternoon’s first half. It was the longest stretch for the program since a seven-match shutout streak in 2003.
With nine shutout through 14 games, the ‘Dogs are on pace for 13 this season in the regular season, which would be the third-most in school history.
- A handful of Truman players have the chance to climb into the program’s top-10 in all-time games played this season. Leading the current senior class is Kristin Haluszczak, whose 79 games played is one back of the current tenth place spot of 80. Isabel Gaeta, Kelsey Richters and Riley Mahn will also have an outside shot of cracking the top-10.
-Monday’s contest marked the first time in 14 games this year that Truman won the match after surrendering the first goal. The ‘Dogs are 9-0-1 when tallying the first goal and are now 1-2 when falling behind, 1-0.
- The Bulldogs will not play at a neutral field until potentially the NCAA tournament, as all four non-conference matches in 2009 were either true home or road contests.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs have four road matches remaining in 2009, with a light week coming up. Truman will only play Missouri Southern (4-8, 2-6 MIAA) in the next seven days, which will take place on Friday, Oct. 23 in Joplin.