Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern soccer program hits the road to face off against Northwest Missouri, Friday, and a rematch with Missouri Western on Sunday to begin MIAA action.
The Lions (1-3-2, 0-0-0 MIAA) battled a then #13 Missouri Western team to a 2-2 tie at Hal Bodon Field to begin last week before the comeback attempt against #18 Central Missouri fell just short in the 3-2 loss. Goal scorers from this past week were
Ella Durocher with two against the Jennies as
Jori Hays and
Maya Greenquist had a goal against the Griffons. Collecting assists were
Mackenzie Scholtz against Missouri Western as
Elisabeth Pujado,
Lainey Waldron and
Banner Williams had assists versus Central Missouri.
The Lions will kick off from the Bearcat Pitch against Northwest Missouri Friday, at 3:00 pm and Sunday against Missouri Western from Spratt Stadium at 1:00 pm. The game against Northwest Missouri wraps up the non-conference schedule for the Lions and will open up MIAA play against Missouri Western. Both game will feature a stream and have live stats associated with them, you can find them at
https://mssulions.com/coverage.
Leading the Lions this season are Durocher with two goals, Scholtz with two assists, Hays with 18 shots and 11 shots on goal, at goalie
Riley Laver has the most saves 29, minutes in goal 517:29 on the team and has a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 1.39. In the MIAA the Lions as a team rank second in saves per game at 5.83 behind the sure hands of Laver and
Laney Graham, fifth in save percentage at 0.814 and fifth in assists with eight being provided for the nine goals scored so far. Individually Laver ranks fourth in the MIAA in minutes played and saves, sixth in saves per game and seventh in save percentage. Ranking fifth for assists in the MIAA, Scholtz has provided the final ball twice so far this season.
For Northwest Missouri (3-3, 0-0 MIAA) the Bearcats are coming off a dramatic last-second win over then #13 Missouri Western last week and a 3-0 loss to then #18 Central Missouri. The Bearcats are led by Teagan Blackburn with a team-high four goals and Kaylie Rock has two goals so far for second on the team. Dishing out assists Hannah Stirling and Sophie Cissell have two so far this season to pace the team. Rock and Blackburn led the team with shots and shots on goal so far as well. The Bearcats used Ashley Williams and Grace Goersch in goal this past week, Williams has a team-high 16 saves in four games played while Goetsch has a 0.833 save percentage, 10 saves and a GAA of 1.33 in two games played. Overall, in the series the Bearcats own a 18-14-3 advantage over the Lions and a win in Maryville for the Lions would be the first since 2017 and would snap a two game road skid.
Missouri Western (3-1-2, 0-0-0 MIAA) played the Lions to a 2-2 draw before losing 2-1 to Northwest Missouri last week to fall out of the USCA Top 25 Poll after being ranked 13th. The Griffons are led by Kaili Campbell with three goals scored, with Jaden Skinner providing two goals as well. Providing two assists so far this season Tina Palmieri leads the Griffons. Leading the team in shots and shots on goal is Campbell and Skinner as well. In goal Anna Mayer has collected 31 saves in six games playing in all 588:47 minutes of the season and has a 0.92 GAA paired with a 0.838 save percentage. The series against Missouri Southern favors the Lions 12-12-3 overall, in St. Joseph Missouri Western holds a 6-4-1 lead and has not lost at home to the Lions since 2008.
