So...this is going to be a somewhat limited piece as I was out of town all weekend and missed pretty much all of the action....at least Missouri action that is. Little can be said about the excitement of seeing Yale vs. Lehigh and the Jets vs. Eagles in one weekend. And it would figure that a LOT of Mizzou teams were in action this weekend, so off we go.
Football:
As alluded to in the preview, I was out east this past weekend and did not see a single play of the game....not even on replay or highlights or DVR at this point. I followed the score a little bit through about the first three quarters while at dinner, and sat down to follow it on my phone just as we had taken the lead 24-23. Clearly, I picked a fine time to start paying attention :-)
I will clearly pass on commenting on the game and defer to the people who either saw it in person or on TV. (stupid NY does not even seem to have Fox Sports anywhere I could find). Mizzou finished the game about where I figured they would, though I did not account of the number of turnovers, which was obviously a surprise. Mizzou is just about where they were last year, (5-1 vs. 6-1) and needs to bounce back from this loss like they did last year (loss at aTm, win vs. kSU) TTech did what I figured they would to a struggling aTm team (I would not be sad if that team had completely fallen apart by early November) and helped us push our game with them this weekend to the LOVELY 2:30 p.m. game (cannot remember a season with two of those, just perfect tailgating time). I am certain The Boy will break it all down this coming week about our matchup but I am confident in what I saw (Nebraska) and heard (OU) about our defense in the past two games. That an Eberflus seems to always scheme well against TTech, we will need for him to do so again. A win here should propel us to another obviously against ISU and then hopefully against CU (watched a little of their game, STILL not impressed with them).
Volleyball:
Congrats to the Tigers for doing exactly what they needed to do in the last two weeks, which was take an easier part of their schedule, shore up some things with a young team and start to believe that they CAN win game 3 after winning games 1 and 2. They took their show on the road this past Saturday down to Waco and swept the Bears in a close match, but a sweep nonetheless, going 30-23 in the last game. Na Yang continues to be hot and the team has seemed to settle into the about 2:1 ratio of Lei Wang and Luiza Jarocka setting the ball for them. The win is their 5th straight and pushes them back to 5-4 in conference and 12-6 overall.
Coming up is a pretty murderous stretch for the ladies, with three ranked teams in a row. However, and in quite the scheduling quirk, all three matches are at home over the next week and a half. The ladies welcome #1 Nebraska to town on Wednesday nighst, with Texas playing RIGHT after the football game on Saturday night, and then kSU playing Wednesday night. The ladies really need to win at least one of these matches to continue to entertain thoughts about postseason play. At this point, they have 5 matches left with teams above them in conference. Winning 2 of them and then the remaining 6 matches against the rest gets them to 20 wins overall. Last year Mizzou finished 11-9 in conference (the above would get them 13 wins) and 17-12 overall. They really do need a couple of signature wins to salt away a berth though, and their best chance comes this week.
Soccer:
All good things must come to an end, as the Tigers fell to #23 ranked OK State 2-1 in overtime yesterday to drop their first Big XII conference game and lose their first in their last seven. Friday night, the women started their weekend with a solid 3-0 win over the OU Sooners with the 9th goal of the season from frosh Alysha Bonnick, the 3rd of the year from frosh Kari Adam and the team-leading 10th on the season from soph Kristin Andrighetto. Did I mention the team was young? On Sunday, Mizzou took a 1-0 lead into the half with a late goal, and her first of the year, from RS Soph Megan Pfeiffer, but could not hold the lead for long out of the half and eventually fell in OT.
Mizzou faces probably the most important weekend of games they have had all season with a road trip to Austin Friday night, followed by another roadie, but this time to Boulder on Sunday. UT currently sits in 3rd in the conference at 3-1-1 (Mizzou is 4-1 and aTm, who Mizzou holds the tie-breaker over, is 5-1). A win at UT would allow the ladies to keep pace with aTm, and give them the tie-breaker over the two teams likely to challenge them for the top spot in the league. CU comes in a respectable 5th in the conference and will be a tough test for the women as well. They do finish the season will relatively easier games against kU, ISU and Nebraska, but for Mizzou to keep pace, they need to get it done this coming weekend.
X-Country
Both the men and women traveled to Bradley University this past weekend to take part in something of a preview for the NCAA Midwest Regional meet to be held later this fall. Mizzou dominated the course and the weekend on both sides, coming away with both team titles and the men's individual title for sophomore Dan Hedgecock. Overall, the Mizzou men really dominated, placing 5 harriers (yes....harriers) in the top 10 and setting personal bests all over the place. Following Hedgecock was junior Tim Cornell in 3rd, senior Billy Bell and frosh Phillip King. Junior Garret Jeffries was also in that mix, showing a great range of youth and experience the men will carry into post-season play.
For the women, frosh Kinsey Farren continues to impress as she placed 3rd in the race. Seniors Kate Greer and Kasey Kimball took top 12 finishes and helped seal the win over Wichita State by beating out a couple of their runners. Junior Angela Potrykus also finished in the top 12 for the women, and was one of 17 total Mizzou runners to set a personal best on the weekend. Coming up next for the team will be the Big XII Championship meet (and Border Skirmish point potential) in two weeks down in Lubbock, TX. The Tigers will return to Bradley in a month on 11/10.
Swimming
All in all, a pretty successful opening weekend for the men's and women's swimming program. The men opened against Indiana on Friday and fell to a ranked IU team....and that is all I know about that. I take that back, after a little scouring, I found that the Tigers fell 141-102. However, they came back strong on Saturday and took their third straight Show-Me showdown, edging out SMS 365-357 for the top spot. (and if you think I can explain swimming scoring, think again. I think it is roughly the same as X-country on an level of dual meet, but as for mutli-team meets...yeah...no clue). A quick glance of the team shows strong efforts from Sophomores and juniors, with a couple of seniors and a freshman diver sprinkled in. Next up for the men will be a conference show-down (and there are not many of those for men's swimming) with aTm this weekend leading up to the Big 12 Relays this weekend in Ames, IA.
As for the women, a tremendous start to their season, as they not only took home the team title for the Show-Me Showdown, but also CRUSHED Big 10 champ Indiana 150-93. Another very balanced team took it to the Hoosiers from the get-go and just crushed IU, taking 10 of 13 events from the defending Big 10 champs. This is hopefully the kind of win to get Mizzou some additional credit nationally and continue to elevate the program. Coming up for the ladies will be a similar trip to Ames, IA, but they will follow-up the Relays with aTm. The texas schools are dominant in swimming on both sides of the pool, so the teams can really make a statement this weekend about where they fall in the (limited) Big XII pecking order.
Men's Golf
Mizzou took a squad devoid of seniors and placed 11th at the Windon Classic in Glencoe, ILL, in a tournament featuring a lot of talent, especially from the Big 10. The Tigers had a couple of top 30 performances from junior Peter Malnati and frosh Tyler Hillis. The men will continue the fall schedule with an extremely arduous trip coming up at the beginning of next week as they travel to San Diego, CA for the Sycuan Collegiate. I would just like to wish them good luck and tell them how much I hate them for being able to get out to San Diego and play golf....and during the school week no less :-)
Women's Golf
Now see, all we needed was a home tournament. Mizzou took the inaugural Johnie Imes Invitational at the new Old Hawthorne course last week, winning both the team tournament and the individual title with sophomore Julia Potter, who came from behind in the last round and scorched the course, carding a 66 to win the title by 8 strokes in the end. For Mizzou, their team won the team title going away, by 30 strokes over Princeton. Also playing well for the ladies was....well...everyone. Senior Maddie Augustsson and sophomore Michelle Morgan tied for third, with junior Chelsea Schriewer taking 8th and RS Frosh Lindsey Haupt taking 15th for the ladies. Up next will be a not-as-glorious trip to Las Cruces, NM this week, followed by a much better trip to VEGAS BABY VEGAS to finish the month.
Women's Tennis
Another solid weekend by the Tennis team, taking the "B" and "C" flight singles championships this past weekend at the Mizzou Invitational, as well as the "A" and "B" flight doubles titles (making four of six on the weekend). The Mizzou frosh were once again on display as Mallory Weber, Kaitlyn Richie and Maureen Modesto all participating in the Mizzou wins. Senior Chrissy Svetlic teamed with Weber to take the "A" flight doubles, while Ritchie teamed with sophomore Kaitlin Dunham for the "B" flight. Modesto took the "B" flight singles, while junior Sofia Ayala took home the "C" flight top spot. Up next for the ladies will be a trip out to lovely Tulsa, OK this week for the ITA Central Regionals, where hopefully the team will continue to make a splash on their fall season.
Random Thoughts
• So NONE of the teams I was interested in this weekend won (Mizzou, Lehigh and NY Jets).
• Brad Smith actually plays quite a bit for the Jets, but never seems to see the ball. I think their coach somehow believes he serves a better purpose as a very scary decoy than actually getting the ball into his hands. And Chad Pennington needs to sit....he CANNOT throw the ball anywhere in a timely manner. There is no zip on his ball at all.
• The Rockies....my God...seriously...I don’t think I will ever see anything like this again. And I still think the Red Sox will take the WS.
• Loving the 2:30 start time this weekend, have I mentioned that?
• Spending a weekend in NY just makes you an angry person, but the I would love to have the older guy who I sat next to at the Jets game around all the time. After EVERY play, he would string together a derogatory adverb and adjective, and the two words were never the same the entire time. Damn guy was like a thesaurus, though some of his combinations were a tad...um...interesting.
• Yale has quite a little RB who is a junior and who is tearing up D-1AA. Ran 40 times for over 275 yards vs. Lehigh, and is a damn horse. 5’11, 200 lbs, low to the ground, good speed and real good vision. Mike McLeod...keep an eye on his stats...and on the Bulldogs, who are 6-0 now.
• South Florida = #2....damn....strange things are going on.
And WOW....not exactly the truncated version here...