Jennies soccer travels to Missouri Western for a 7 p.m. match Friday before trekking to Maryville Sunday for a 1 p.m. match with Northwest Missouri State.
Northwest Missouri State: The match against the Bearcats Sunday will be the 25th meeting between UCM and NWMSU. The Jennies lead the series 17-3-4. Last season the Jennies defeated the Bearcats in Maryville 4-0, at home 2-0 and in the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City, 4-0.
The Coaches
Chad Edwards, Missouri Western: Edwards is in his second season as the Griffons head coach. Edwards got his first collegiate victory on September 4, 2011 against Southwestern Oklahoma State by a score of 2-0 in Edmond, Okla.
Edwards is the third women's soccer coach in MWSU school history, taking over the program in August of 2011.
Edwards played at Missouri Southern from 1997-2000 where he was voted team captain and helped the team win a conference championship in 1997. He graduated from MSSU in 2001 with a bachelor of science in business administration with an emphasis in marketing and earned a master's of business administration from Baker University in 2005.
Tracy Hoza, Northwest Missouri State: Tracy Hoza has been the head coach of Northwest Missouri State's soccer program since 2003 and every year that passes seems to be for the better.
Hoza carries a career record of 61-90-21, all at Northwest Missouri State.
Hoza is the second coach in program history, the longest tenured and holds the most wins at Northwest with 61 wins. She arrived in Maryville from Toledo University in Ohio where she served as an assistant at the Division I program for two seasons.
A native of Limerick, Ireland, she earned her undergraduate degree from Mercyhurst in sports medicine and received her master's degree in liberal arts from Lock Haven.
Four-time MIAA Coach of the Year,
Lewis Theobald is in his sixth season as head coach at Central Missouri and currently has an impressive 89-17-11 record.
With the Jennies 4-2 win over Winona State August 31st, Theobald became the all-time winningest coach in Jennies soccer history.
He recorded more wins in his first three seasons than any other coach in school history. He was the first assistant at Division I Indiana State, where he was the lead recruiter before coming to UCM.
He is a 1999 graduate of the University of Kansas.
Scouting the week's competition
Missouri Western: The Griffons enter the week with an overall record of 4-8-1 and are 2-6-1 in the MIAA. Missouri Western is paced by Abby Widrig and Katie Kempf, who each have four goals this season. As a team, the Griffons average 1 goal/game while their opponents average 1.54/game. Missouri Western only averages 8.1 shots/game while its opponents average 18.5/game.
The Griffons goalkeeper is Kelly Voigts. Voigts has started 12 matches for Missouri Western. She has compiled 85 saves and has a goals-against-average of 1.35. Her record in-goal is 4-7-1 with two shutouts. She has allowed 17 goals in 2012.
Northwest Missouri State: The Bearcats enter the week at 7-4-3 overall with an MIAA record of 5-2-2. Northwest Missouri is led by Victoria Von Mende. Von Mende has seven goals and two assists this season. As a team, the Bearcats average 2.07 goals/game while holding their opponents to 1.50/game. Northwest Missouri averages 16.5 shots/game while its opponents average 13.8/game.
The Bearcats primary goalie is Kelsey Adams. Adams has stated 12 matches for Northwest Missouri and has saved 83 shots. Her goals-against-average is 1.45. Adams record in-goal is 5-3-2 with three shutouts. She has allowed 20 goals so far this season.
Hartzler named MIAA Women's Soccer Athlete of the Week
Jennies' soccer freshman goalkeeper
Morgan Hartzler has been named the MIAA Women's Soccer Athlete of the Week after posting two shutouts and helping the Jennies to a 1-0-1 record last week.
In Thursday's showdown with then #19 Central Oklahoma, Hartzler played all 110 minutes in the match finishing with five saves, including two critical saves in extra time to preserve the 0-0 draw with the Bronchos. It was her first match since suffering an injury against the University of Mary on September 6th.
In Sunday morning's rescheduled match against Northeastern State she played the full 90 minutes between the pipes, making three key saves in the 1-0 victory over the Riverhawks.
Jennies third in first NCAA-II Central Region Regional Rankings
Jennies soccer is ranked third in the first set of NCAA Division II Central Region regional rankings released Wednesday afternoon.
The MIAA has four teams in the opening set of rankings paced by the #18 Central Oklahoma Bronchos, who check in at number one in the region this week. The Jennies are third, Truman State fourth and Fort Hays State checks in at 10th.
The top six teams in the final regional rankings released Monday, November 5th earn a birth to the NCAA Division II women's soccer tournament.
The second regional poll will be released next Wednesday, October 24th.
Defensive power
The Jennies defense is second in the MIAA in goals allowed, only allowing eight goals so far this season, third in shutouts with seven and goals-against-average with a mark of 0.54.
Nationally, the Jennies defense ranks 15th in NCAA Division II in goals-against-average at 0.54 and 33rd in shutout percentage with a 0.50 percentage.
Corner Cannon
The Jennies lead the MIAA in corner kicks taken with 105. The next closest team is Nebraska-Kearney with 85. Senior
Kayla Shain (86) and freshman
Nicole Pond (18) have combined to take 104 of those corners.
