Category: Great Lakes Valley Conference

Ryan Swan, NSCAA Missouri Technical Coordinator& Drury Panther Men's Coach

Ryan Swan Moves from Drury to Northern Illinois

Ryan Swan, NSCAA Missouri Technical Coordinator& Drury Panther Men's Coach
Ryan Swan, Drury Panther Men’s Coach
Drury University men’s soccer head coach Ryan Swan will step down to accept the head coaching job at Northern Illinois University, an NCAA-I program in DeKalb, Illinois.

Swan has been the Panthers head coach for eight seasons and compiled a record of 106-47-8 (.658) during his tenure at Drury. He led the Panthers to four NCAA-II tournament appearances and the 2009 Great Lakes Valley Conference championship as part of a 21-2 season. Swan was named the GLVC Coach of the Year that season in addition to being named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s Midwest Region Coach of the Year. He leaves as Drury’s all-time leader in career coaching wins for men’s soccer.

“Coach Swan’s teams had success both on and off the field,” said Drury University Vice President and Director of Athletics, Mark Fisher. “We are sad to see him go but at the same time, we’re happy for him, his wife Courtney and his family to have this opportunity. We want to thank Ryan for his contributions to Drury Athletics and wish him the best as he moves forward.”

Last fall, Swan’s team finished the year ranked 20th in NCAA-II. The Panthers went 13-4-4 and advanced to the national tournament round of 16 where they lost on penalty kicks to Rockhurst.

Swan’s teams were also successful academically throughout his time at Drury. Under Swan, the Panthers earned NSCAA Team Academic Awards for seven straight seasons and, in 2015, men’s soccer posted the best grade point average among Drury men’s sports with a 3.54 GPA. That squad also earned a Team Academic Award from the GLVC and 15 players from that team won All-Academic honors from the conference for having an accumulative grade point average of 3.30 or better.

Swan has coached 31 All-GLVC performers with 15 of those named first team selections. He also had 13 named All-Midwest Region players during his eight seasons leading the Panthers.

A search for Drury’s next men’s soccer head coach will begin immediately.

Pat Atwell, AD at Drury Resigns

Pat Atwell, Drury AD, at soccer match in 2010
Pat Atwell, Drury AD, at soccer match in 2010
Pat Atwell, Drury’s Director of Athletics for the past seven years, has resigned from his position to pursue other interests, the university announced on Tuesday.

Atwell has overseen the DU Athletics department since 2007, after serving in the same capacity at fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference member Quincy (Ill.) University.

In Atwell’s time at Drury, the Panther squads captured 13 NCAA-II national championships (12 by the swimming programs), and won a GLVC All-Sports Trophy in 2009-10 while finishing in the Top 30 of the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup all-sports competition in each of his seven years, with an 11th-place finish for 2013-14. Continue reading “Pat Atwell, AD at Drury Resigns” →

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Caleb Collier Named Academic All-American

caleb-collier-missouri-sandt-soccerSenior defender Caleb Collier (Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo) was selected to the All-America squad for his work in the classroom, which are afforded to student-athletes with at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average at their institution as well as for their play on the field. Collier was a third team choice and was joined by his teammate Adam Stensland.

Collier, a mechanical engineering major, assisted on two goals this season from his wing back position. He is a two year starter in that role, starting all 14 games he played in this season while starting 16 of 17 games in 2011.

With 18 starts in 20 games as a sophomore, when the team reached the NCAA 2nd round, losing to eventual national champion Northern Kentucky, Collier had 48 starts in three years. Add in an NCAA campaign and a two-time District Academic honors to go with the All-American recognition this year. I can’t believe the kid’s already completed his career at Rolla (my alma mater as well). Well done Caleb!

The duo was part of a Miner defensive unit held its opponents to just 13 goals in 16 games this season as S&T posted nine shutouts and the fifth-best save percentage in the NCAA Division II ranks.

McKenna-Feltes-Drury-Panthers-soccer-heads-clear

Drury Panthers Fall in Opening Round of GLVC Tournament

McKenna-Feltes-Drury-Panthers-soccer-heads-clearThe Men’s team lose in the first OT at home to UMSL while the Women took nationally 13th-ranked Quincy to penalty kicks, but fell 2-0 to the Hawks in Sunday’s opening round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Soccer Championships.

For the Men, UMSL’s Thomas Mihalczo’s deflected shot from 15 yards out bounced into an empty net seven minutes into overtime, lifting sixth-seed Missouri St. Louis to a 1-0 upset of third-seed Drury in the quarterfinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Championships at Harrison Stadium/Curry Sports Complex.

As a result, the Tritons (11-6-1) move into next weekend’s GLVC semifinals in Kansas City. Nationally 17th-ranked Drury, with its second straight loss, likely ended its season with a 12-4-2 record. Read more at DruryPanthers.com

For the Women, Drury was outshot 19-1 over the two halves and two overtime periods, but had a chance thanks to a career-high 12 saves from freshman keeper Kelsey Vaught.

But the top-seeded Hawks scored twice in the penalty kicks shootout – Jaclyn Mastroianni and Taylor Wakeland finding the net – and Drury was blanked by QU keeper Jodi Chapie for the victory to advance to next weekend’s GLVC semifinals and finals, which will be held in Quincy.

The Lady Panthers finished its season 9-7-3.

GLVC-soccer-championships-2012

Drury Panthers Host UMSL in 1st Round GLVC Playoff Sunday

GLVC-soccer-championships-2012The Drury Panthers (12-3-2, 10-3-2, .733) received the No. 3 seed in the 2012 GLVC Soccer tournament after falling to Missouri S&T 2-0 in its regular-season finale on Wednesday. By finishing in the Top 4, Drury will host a first round playoff game on Sunday.

The Panthers will play host to No. 6 Missouri-St. Louis (10-6-1, 9-5-1, .633), a team that Drury defeated 2-1 back on Sept. 30. Gametime is 1 p.m. at Harrison Stadium on the Drury Campus.

UMSL is 4-1-1 against the other six teams in the conference tournament. The Tritons defeated No. 1 seeded Rockhurst, 1-0, in overtime; tied No. 2 seeded Quincy, 0-0; defeated No. 4 seeded Bellarmine, 2-1; defeated No. 7 seeded William Jewell, 1-0; and lost a 1-0 decision to No. 8 seeded Lewis. UMSL enters the game with a 5 game unbeaten streak. Goalie Patrick Ream, a senior, is a younger brother of Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers/SLU/St Dominic) and older brother of Logan Ream, a defender on the Triton’s who is out injured. Logan spent his freshman year with the Panthers.

DruryPanthers.com – Panthers Begin GLVC Title Push

The Panthers are ranked fifth in the NCAA Midwest Region, behind Quincy and Rockhurst in the Conference. The Top 4 teams in each Region advance to the NCAA Tourney generally with Final Selection set for Monday November 5th. There are no automatic Conference qualifiers. Thus the next two games are critical to the Panthers hope of advancing the the NCAA Tournament.

[table]
NCAA MIDWEST REGION
1,Quincy,11-1-4,11-1-4
2,Rockhurst,13-2-1,13-2-1
3,Cedarville,12-1-1,11-1-1
4,Saginaw Valley State,10-2-2,10-2-2
5,Drury,12-2-2,12-2-2
6,Ohio Dominican,10-4-1,10-4-1
7,Notre Dame (Ohio),10-4-0,10-4-0
[/table]
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