Skip to content

This Week In Southwest Missouri Soccer

02-Sep-08

… I hope to complete the 2nd edition of “SGFsoccer.com - The Magazine”. No, I will complete it, although then my designer will need time to do his magic. Look for the download and ordering information this weekend.

In the meantime, I hope the rain holds off so I can sneak down to Branson this evening to catch the historic first game for the Branson Pirates, who are hosting the Logan-Rogersville Wildcats. This will be a Central Ozark Conference battle, between the large school Pirates and the small school Wildcats. The Branson paper offers a preview of the squad, Different Cultures Unite as does the South County Mail as Soccer Finally Comes to LRHS.

In Springfield, there’s an early grudge match as the 2-time defending Class 1 District champion New Covenant Warriors host the Greenwood Blue Jays. I’ve got a 4:30 pm start time for this Varsity-only game. Anyone want to provide a report for the readers after this one?

The Class 2 District Champion Cassville Wildcats open at home today, with the Neosho Wildcats visiting. The runner-up Bolivar Liberators are hosting small school Cole Camp on Wednesday.

The Kickapoo Chiefs, coming off of their trip to the Final 4 last November and the 3rd place finish, will open their season Friday by traveling down Campbell Avenue to Nixa.

There’s a full slate of Ozark Conference games this week and some COC games as well. You can always find the latest on the Soccer Calendar.

On the College front, we’ll see the Missouri State Bears for the first time this weekend. They host their annual early season Tournament with a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.
Friday 5:00 pm - Centenary vs Drake @ MSU
Friday 7:00 pm - MSU hosts Cleveland State
Saturday 5:00 pm - 17:00 Cleveland State vs Drake @ MSU
Saturday 7:00 pm - MSU hosts Centenary

I’m working on getting caught up on the D1 and D2 players and their first weekend, look for that and updates on the others as I try to figure out a model that I can manage. Have you looked at the list of College Players recently!

Filed in College Men, High School Boys | Tagged , | Comments (4) »

U.S. Soccer Coaching Symposium In Chicago - September 9 and 10

01-Sep-08

U.S. Soccer’s Coaching Department will conduct a coaching symposium from Sept. 9-10 in conjunction with the U.S. Men’s National Team 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Trinidad & Tobago in Chicago. Members of the U.S. MNT coaching staff will present at the symposium.

Cost for the symposium is $125 for active U.S. Soccer CoachesNet members and $140 for non-members. Registration includes a ticket (Section 209) to the game, day of game reception, and game day parking pass. Cost of registration also includes a personalized symposium packet which contains a 2008 Men’s National Team yearbook, a Best Practices booklet, a Kwik Goal gift, and a U.S. Soccer CoachesNet notebook. Registration is open to all coaches. “A” licensed coaches will earn two Continuing Education Units for attending the two-day symposium.

Filed in Camps & Clinics, World Cup Soccer | Tagged | Comments (0) »

The MIAA Arms Race

01-Sep-08

The St Joseph News has done an excellent job of looking at the escalating cost of competing in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). It’s primarily a football discussion but it points to the role of Athletics on campus and as part of the process of differentiating a school and a program.


The turf’s always greener … MIAA schools engaged in a fundraising struggle
by R.J. Cooper, Thursday, August 28, 2008

Scientists likely would blame Jerry Wollmering’s receding hairline on genetics. The Truman State athletic director blames it on the MIAA.

Wollmering watched as Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T) left the conference in 2004, and Southwest Baptist did the same in football after last season. Those two schools had something in common with Truman in that they had higher academic standards than the rest of the MIAA and fewer resources — a two-fold handicap that had Rolla and Baptist finishing in the conference’s last three spots nine times from 1995-2004.

In 2003, when Rolla went 0-11, the Miners funded just 19 of its 36 allowable scholarships. Endowments have allowed the university to raise that number to the 30s the past couple of seasons, and the Miners also funded about $725,000 in improvements to its facilities.

But that’s peanuts compared to Pittsburg State, Northwest Missouri State, Central Missouri or Washburn — all of which have invested anywhere from $5.5 million to $11 million in their respective stadiums during the past 13 years.

The administration in Rolla eventually decided it didn’t care to compete in the MIAA’s emerging arms race.

What approach would you say Drury and Missouri State are taking? Do you agree with it?

Filed in Economics | Tagged | Comments (1) »

Missouri State Bears at Drake Tournament

31-Aug-08

Missouri State Bears - 1
Wisconsin Milwaukee - 1
Freshman David Buckenheimer tied the game in the 21st minute to get the Bears their first points of the season.

Missouri State Bears - 0
SIU Edwardsville Cougars - 1
From Saturday, the Bears lost to the new D1 program from the St Louis Metro Eastside. A squad that lost to fellow MVC member, the Bradley Braves, 4-1 the week before.

Filed in College Men | Tagged , , , | Comments (0) »

Missouri State Bears Shut Out Tulsa Golden Hurricane

31-Aug-08

Missouri State Bears Shut Out Tulsa Golden HurricanesMissouri State - 1
Tulsa Golden Hurricane - 0
Another positive result at Plaster this afternoon as the Lady Bears got the job done against their regional foes from Oklahoma. The goal was scored from a set piece, when Christine Cross was taken down on a hard tackle in front of the Bears bench. Sophomore Jordan Reppell came up from her sweeper position and her ball into the box was well-weighted, with senior Allie Osmundson’s header falling into Jenna Laughlin’s path. Laughlin’s header in the 59th minute, moments before colliding with the goal-keeper, was all the margin the Bear’s needed today to move to 3-1 on the season.

The game was a back-and-forth affair as both teams worked to get numbers into the box. The Hurricane were coming off a strong game in Fayetteville Friday night, where they shut out the Razorbacks. The same team that shut out the Bears a week ago. The difference today was a team that showed more pace and fight, certainly taking more responsibility in the defensive third this time around as the Hurricane had two excellent chances late, including in the final minute.

Missouri State’s goalkeeper Jackie Jasper was tabbed with the win recording five saves in the match. With the victory, Jasper is tied with the most goalkeeper wins (33) in Missouri State history.

Filed in College Men, College Women, History | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0) »

Drury Panthers

31-Aug-08

Drury Panthers host Columbia CollegeDrury Panthers - 1
Columbia College - 0
Adam Peterson (Kickapoo 2006) scored in the 75th to give the men the shut out win.

Drury Panthers - 0
Abilene Christian - 0
Double OT was not enough to determine a winner in a game that both teams felt slipped away from them.

Filed in College Men, College Women | | Comments (0) »

College Players - I Need Your Help

30-Aug-08

OK, here’s the thing…

The numbers are huge this year. If I’m going to keep up with your efforts, I need to know when the games are and the best way for me to do that is to have it in my Soccer Calendar. So here’s my request:

Go to this page and enter your schedule for me. That will give me the basics in a format I can upload into Google Calendar easily. Otherwise send me the schedule as a spreadsheet so I can avoid the data entry I’m dealing with now.

I also have a Facebook page now so if you want to keep up on what’s happening here in SpringVegas, become a fan. I have it set up so everything flows directly to the page AND it’s where I maintain a calendar of events.

Parents - feel free to handle this for your son or daughter :)

Filed in College Men, College Women, Sportsmanship | | Comments (0) »

Friday’s College Report

29-Aug-08

bearhead_125.jpgMissouri State Bears - 1
SEMO Redhawks - 0
This is a very good result for the Bears, getting the win on a 50th minute goal from their midfield general, sophomore Samantha Aguilar. Sophomore midfielder Christine Cross earned the assist as she led Aguilar with a pass that resulted in a goal in the bottom left corner of the net. Tara Bailes (Catholic 2008) once again played significant minutes in midfield.

The Redhawks posted a 12-3-4 record last season while capturing their second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. It looks like they were missing a key player, Casey Kraft (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) who does not show up in the box score but is expected to lead their offense this season. UPDATE - Southeast suffered a bad break before the game when senior standout Casey Kraft rolled an ankle in warmups. She did not play, but Nelson doesn’t believe the injury is serious.

The Bears will host Tulsa at home on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm

Missouri Southern LionsMissouri Southern Lions - 2 (2 OT)
Abilene Christian - 1
The Lions gave up a goal in the 47th minute to create a 1-0 deficit, only to see their senior leader Nikki Llewellyn tie the game in the 88th minute and get the game winner in the 105th minute to earn the win in their home opener. Megan Dimza assisted on the first goal, Shannon Kuhn on the second. UPDATE - They were the 39th and 40th goals of Llewellyn’s career.

Sophomore Lindsay Altman (Joplin 2007) and freshman Brianna McKenzie (Webb City) both earned minutes in the match, with McKenzie getting 1 shot off from her midfield position.

Missouri Southern Lions - 1
Texas A&M International - 2 (OT)
The Lions took the initial lead in the game, getting a goal from freshman Kevin Aubuchon, assisted by sophomore Nate Evans (Cassville 2007) in the 76th minute. The home team tied it on a 30 yard free kick from right wing in the 85th and got the game-winner 5 minutes into OT from a cross into the box. Stuart Ziegler (West Plains 2008) and Jesse Clevenger (College Heights 2006) both started for the Lions.

Miners Logo headMissouri S&T Miners - 3
Ashland Eagles - 1
Brooke Ryan and freshman Melissa Young scored second half goals for the Lady Miners, who won a season opening contest for the first time since beating Winona State to start the 2003 campaign.

Missouri S&T Miners - 3
Ashland Eagles - 4
S&T tied the score again at the 62:08 mark when Mario Calderon redirected a ball from Brandon Moore (Rolla 2005) past goalkeeper Ryan Cruise to knot the score at three. But moments later, the Miners were whistled for a foul in the penalty area and Tom Mangotic made the penalty kick for what turned out to be the Eagles decisive goal.

Filed in College Men, College Women, Represent SGF Soccer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0) »

Enjoy The Weekend!

29-Aug-08

I’ll be out to cover the three college games in the region this weekend:
Saturday’s doubleheader at Drury - the Men play at 5:00 pm, the Women at 7:00 pm
Sunday afternoons game at Missouri State - the Women host Tulsa at 1:00 pm

Otherwise posting will be light as I’m working very hard to get the second issue of SGFsoccer.com - The Magazine out the door. Be safe!

Oh, and I should mention that Coester’s now has SENTANTA to go along with Fox Soccer Channel, Gol TV and MLS Direct Kick. A couple fellows stopped by this week to see ManU play on Monday and Mark discovered he could buy the Sentata subscription and did it the same day.

So if you’re in the mood for some good international soccer this weekend, visit the home of International and MLS soccer in Springfield :) Clicking on the link will take you to a list of all the games being broadcast this weekend.

Filed in College Men, College Women, International Soccer | Tagged , , , | Comments (0) »

Crowder Roughriders Host Cloud County Friday

29-Aug-08

The Roughriders host Cloud County Community College at 4 p.m. Friday at Lions Field. It will be their third game of the young season, including a season opening loss to Maple Wood and then a tie against St Louis - Forest Park on Sunday.

With about 10 minutes left in the 90-minute contest, Forest Park tied the game on a late goal.

“I thought we played well,” said Smith. “It was hot today and we just ran out of gas last. We need to be in the game for 90 minutes. Our lack of fitness kind of showed. For the most part, though, I was pleased. We attacked more today.”

The first year program was profiled in the Neosho Daily News last week has a difficult schedule ahead, including three games against nationally ranked programs.

September 2nd at #5 Jefferson College (19 - 4 - 1)
September 20th at #10 Northern Oklahoma College (17 - 2 - 1)
October 10th at #14 St. Louis Community College-Meramec (15 - 3 - 1)

Both Jefferson and Meramec are part of the same NJCAA Region as the Roughriders. The game I’m looking at is my alma mater Florissant Valley visiting October 16th. :)

Filed in College Men | | Comments (0) »