Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern soccer program wraps up the 2021 regular season with a road trip to Central Missouri on Friday  before hosting Northwest Missouri on Sunday

The Lions (3-11-2, 2-7 MIAA) are coming off a 3-1 loss to #15 Emporia State and a 1-0 loss to Washburn on the road last week. Currently the Lions are tenth in the MIAA standings with six points, behind Fort Hays and Rogers State who both have nine points. The Leading scorer for Southern is Ella Durocher with four goals, Maya Greenquist has two goals and a team-high three assists and Jori Hays has 30 shots with 19 being shots on goal mostly coming from well outside the box. In goal Riley Laver is fourth in the MIAA in save percentage (0.797), fifth in saves per game (4.92), sixth in Goals Against Average (1.28) and is eighth in total saves (59). 
 
Missouri Southern will kick off from the South Recreation Complex against Central Missouri Friday, at 7:00 pm and on Sunday against Washburn will kick off at 2:00 pm from Hal Bodon Field. Both games will feature a stream and have live stats associated with them, you can find them at https://mssulions.com/coverage. 
 
#17 Central Missouri (13-2-1, 7-1-1 MIAA) is coming off a 2-1 overtime win over Washburn before losing to #15 Emporia State 4-3 in double-overtime on the road last week. Currently the Jennies are second in the MIAA standings with 22 points and have qualified for the MIAA Tournament. Kassie Newsom leads the MIAA with 10 assists and 38 points, she is second in shots (59), shots on goal (34), goals (14) and is third in game winning goals with four. Sydney Leslie is second on the team with nine goals while Caroline Cole and Ashleigh Martin have five goals and three assists each. Lindsey Johnson has started every game this season and owns a 1.30 GAA, a 0.779 save percentage, has 74 saves and been a part of six shutouts. The NCAA released its first Division II regional rankings that had the Jennies ranked first ahead of Emporia State. A win in Warrensburg would be the first for the Lions since 2013 and would stop a 3-0-1 road losing streak.
 
Northwest Missouri (10-5-1, 6-2-1 MIAA) is coming off a 2-1 win over Central Oklahoma and a 1-0 win over Newman at home last week. Currently the Bearcats are fourth in the MIAA with 19 points and have qualified for the MIAA Tournament. Teagan Blackburn is fifth in the MIAA for game winning goals (4), goals (8) and points (20). Kaylie Rock ranks third in the MIAA in shots (62), shots on goal (32), ninth in goals (7) and tenth in points (17). Leading the Bearcats in assists and ranked eighth in the MIAA Sophie Cissell has 5 so far this season. Ashley Williams has started ten games in goal for the Bearcats and has a 1.63 GAA, a 0.750 save percentage, has 48 saves and has four shutouts. A win in Joplin would be the first for the Lions since 2018 and would stop a four-game losing streak overall with the Bearcats.