Archive for the ‘Soccer’ Category

The Missouri Western soccer team made great strides during the 2009 season, finishing with an 8-10-2 record overall and accomplishing the most wins in the program’s history. This fall, the team returns every player and is hoping to continue their success from last fall and make more great things happen.

When it comes to goals, the Griffon soccer team has set the bar high.

“The biggest advantage we have this season is that we are returning 18 starters, so we can sort of hit the ground running,” senior goalkeeper, Jenna Weis, said.

Head coach Jeff Hansen said that Western talked about winning the MIAA conference after the 2009 season had finished.

“Our goal is to win the league,” Hansen said. “Some people may look at that as a ‘wow’ statement, but we saw ourselves as being the fourth best team the way we were playing at the end of the year. We were one game out of fourth by ourselves, and we feel like we had some games that we should have gotten.”

Many of the Griffons’ games were close and could have gone either way this past season. In the 2009 preseason MIAA poll, Western was picked last and by the time the season was over, they had moved up to sixth.

“We went from ninth to sixth, but it could’ve easily been fourth,” Hansen said. “So if we take that next step, our goal is to win the league because I think if we don’t set that goal we are probably short changing ourselves. We jumped three spots, you could argue that we almost jumped five, and then to just say ‘well let’s take third next year,’ that’s just not quite good enough.”

Western has nine seniors on this fall’s roster that will help lead the team to those goals.

“Our seniors, they’ve played almost 60 games in the league,” Hansen said. “We’re hoping that they’re experienced enough and they’ve kind of been through situations that if we go down one nothing in a game, it doesn’t freak everybody out.”

While Western will rely on their veterans for leadership and composure, Hansen also mentioned that some of the younger players will contribute their skills as well.

“We’re going to rely heavily on the seniors for the experience side of things, but we’ve got a lot of talent in the younger groups,” Hansen said.

As always, the MIAA conference will include some matchups with very tough teams. However, Hansen believes the team’s biggest challenge this year will be getting people to realize that Western’s program is a force to be reckoned with.

“This program has not been a conference contender, so people may read my comments and kind of go ‘they’re nuts, they’ve never done it before.’ But you have to have that first team to do it. You have to have somebody step up and have a team step up and just finally do it,” Hansen said.

Hansen is “cautiously optimistic” about the 2010 season and hopes that if all his players stay healthy and that things fall into place, the team can have a great year.

The last six times the Griffon soccer team played in a match with a one goal difference, they have been on the wrong side of the score. One smart strike from freshman Abby Widrig changed that and gave Western a win against Missouri Southern State University. The win also gave Western a winning record at home this season, going 4-3-1.

The rainy conditions and damp playing surface didn’t hurt the Griffons in this game. Early on, the team displayed great defensive tactics. The Griffons held the Lions to only one shot in the first half: letting the forwards of Western go to work on the Lions backs.

The Griffons tried their luck nine times in the opening half. Three of the nine shots came from midfielder Mary Ohm who played at a very nice pace. The good play from the starting 11 carried over into the second half. In the 50th minute, Widrig beat her marker and put the ball in the lower netting giving Widrig her 7th goal of the season.

Eleven minutes later, Missouri Southern midfielder Shannon Kuhn summed up the night for the Lions by receiving the first and only yellow card of the game. The Griffons

Photo: Matthew Fowler

remained in top form for the rest of the night allowing just one corner kick in the 2nd half and allowing only two more shots for the rest of the night.

The win was one of the most complete efforts on the season for Western. The offense and defense played with urgency all night. Griffon’s midfielder Jessica Martin believes that the team’s movement helped them succeed against their opponents.

“We passed the ball around a lot and moved off the ball well which allowed us more shots and shots on goal,” Martin said. “Our game plan was to just drop down our offensive center mid to stay with their stopper. Overall, I would rate our performance an eight out of ten.”

Forward Desi Swanson, who has started every game this season, believes that the reason for the win was winning possession of the ball.

“We just came out and pressured the ball,” Swanson said. “We won the 50/50s which allowed us to create more offense getting us so many more shots.”

Most final home games are a send off to all the seniors who play on the sports team. With this year’s team having no seniors on board, the win is more about finishing the season with a winning record at home. Martin knows that the team can take solace in having a winning record at Spratt.

“The winning record at home means we have turned one of the many pages we want to turn,” Martin said.

“It felt amazing to win a close one and come out on the positive side of things. It was a big accomplishment for our team.”

Swanson feels that the win is a step forward for the team.

“It felt awesome winning that last home game,” Swanson said. “It finally gave us a winning home season which is a big step for us.”

After losing their first game of the season just a week earlier, Missouri Western bounced back with stellar defense to stomp the Truman State Bulldogs 38-14 last Saturday.

The Griffons showed that they can respond to adversity after dropping their first loss to Northwest and coming back with a vengeance.

“After the last game it was easy to bounce back because we really wanted to win a game,” junior offensive lineman Andy Gilmore said. “Obviously that was our first loss and our first time to see what a loss feels like. I think we wanted to get back on the winning track.”

According to head coach Jerry Partridge, the team’s ability to respond had a lot to do with leadership.

“We have a lot of leaders on the offensive line, we have a good quarterback who’s a leader, we have linebackers who are leaders and we have linemen who are leaders,” Partridge said. “I don’t think Truman was a great team, but we played well and took care of business, and that was pretty satisfying.”

Photo | Ryan Richardson

“That was one of the best defensive performances we’ve ever had here,” Partridge said.

The defense took control in the first half and helped the Griffons to go into the locker room up 28-0. Touchdowns from Mike Hill, Thomas Hodges, Adam Clausen and a punt return from Cedric Houston gave the Griffons the advantage.

After another touchdown from Mike Hill to open up the second half put Western up 35-0, Truman outscored the Griffons the rest of the way 14-3. Brad Beckwith finished off the game with a 24 yard field goal to put Western up 38-14 and lead them to victory.

After this win, the Griffons improve to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the MIAA. This Saturday they will take on 14th ranked Central Missouri in Spratt Stadium at 1:30 p.m. for homecoming. Western is currently ranked 15th and tied with Central for second in the MIAA.

Missouri Western’s main goal is to limit their silly mistakes which should lead to success.
We can’t turn the football over again and we can’t give up big plays on defense,” Partridge said. “That’s kind of our problem.”

Quarterback Drew Newhart, who leads the MIAA in passing efficiency and finished Saturday completing 16 of 25 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown, agreed that if the Griffons can limit their turnovers, they will be successful.

“We just need to work on the little things and take care of the football and I think we’ll be okay for Saturday,” Newhart said.