The week ahead... The No. 9 Jennies (13-0-1, 10-0-0 MIAA) inched closer to clinching their fifth straight outright conference title following a pair of road victories last week. With the two victories, the Jennies officially clinched a spot in the MIAA Tournament. UCM's win streak grew to 11, the longest since the 2011 season (17).
Central Missouri closes out its regular season road slate this week at Missouri Western on Friday, Oct. 24 at 4 p.m. and at Northwest Missouri on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 12 p.m.
Sophomore forward
Hannah Pyle scored two goals last week in a 4-2 victory at Northeastern State, bringing her season total to five. Freshman midfielder
Alex Yockey tallied her first assists of the 2014 season, picking up two in the win over the RiverHawks.
Missouri Western has won five of its past six matches, allowing just one goal during that span. The Bearcats have dropped four of their past five games, scoring just two goals in those matches.
Series History...Missouri Western: The Jennies have never lost to the Griffons, holding a 15-0-0 lead. Last season in two games, they did not allow a goal to Missouri Western, outscoring them, 5-0.
Northwest Missouri: Central Missouri leads the all-time series, 21-3-4. The Jennies won the first meeting of the season back on Sept. 21, 3-0 in Warrensburg. Overall, the Jennies have won 10 consecutive meetings with the Bearcats and have not lost since Nov. 6, 2008.
The Coaches...Chad Edwards (Missouri Western): Edwards is in his fourth season as the Griffons' head coach. In 2013 the Griffons had a tough go of it with multiple injuries and set backs. The Griffons opened the season winning two of their first four games with junior Tara Russell collecting four goals and one assist in nine games before an injury ended her season.
In his second season (2012), Edwards helped the Griffons improve by two victories, guiding them to their second highest win total in school history with six. Edwards coached two All-MIAA performers, as senior midfielder Ashlyn Castillo earned second team honors and senior goal keeper Kelly Voigts was an honorable mention selection.
Edwards came to Missouri Western after three seasons as the assistant men's and women's soccer coach at Avila University in Kansas City, Mo., He played a vital role in the day-to-day operations of both the men's and women's programs and was the director of the Avila Elite Soccer Camps.
Tracy Hoza (Northwest Missouri): 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.
The Bearcats made their second consecutive trip to the postseason under Hoza in 2013. Northwest finished with an 8-7-3 record. Northwest played in 12 games decided by one goal or less including an MIAA tournament loss to Northeastern State 2-1.
The Bearcats won a program-record 11 games in 2009 and placed fifth in the MIAA standings, the team's best finish since 2001. That performance followed a 10-win season in 2008 and a nine-win mark in 2006. The three best records in the program's 11-year history have come in the last five seasons.
The 2012 season saw six Bearcats earn All-MIAA honors. Under Hoza, 28 Bearcats have earned All-MIAA accolades while Kira Lazenby was the program's first Goalkeeper of the Year in 2009. Lazenby went on to sign a professional contract with the Santa Clarita Blue Head of the USL's W-League in the spring of 2010.
Hoza is the second coach in program history, the longest tenured and holds the most wins at Northwest with 80 wins.
Head Coach Lewis Theobald Six-time MIAA Coach of the Year,
Lewis Theobald is in his eighth season as head coach at Central Missouri with a stunning 122-22-16 record, becoming the all-time winningest coach in Jennies soccer history during the 2012 season. He earned his 100th victory as head coach of the UCM program on September 27, 2013 at Washburn. He entered the 2014 season as the sixth-winningest active head coach in Division II women's soccer with a .798 winning percentage. 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 Friday's match with an 8-5-1 record, 5-4-1 in conference play.
On offense, Missouri Western is led by senior Tara Russell who has scored a team-high four goals and added two assists for 10 points. Two other Griffons, senior K.C. Ramsell and redshirt freshman Bridget Blessie, both have two goals on the season.
The defense features freshmen Courtney Kempf and Paige Phipps and junior Sydney Andrews. The trio have combined to allow just one goal in the past six matches and own eight shutouts, tied for second-most in the MIAA.
Between the pipes is sophomore Sarah Lyle, who has a record of 8-5-1 this season. She has saved 65 shots, fifth-most in the conference and has a 0.48 GAA, first among MIAA goalkeepers.
Northwest Missouri: The Bearcats currently have a 6-7-1 record and are 3-6-1 against MIAA opponents. They will host Lindenwood on Friday night before welcoming the Jennies to Maryville on Sunday.'
Offensively, the Bearcats' leading scorer is sophomore Ashley Cole, who has four of the team's 15 goals this season. Junior Elizabeth Lee has three assists, a team high.
Defensively, Northwest Missouri has shutout its opponent five times and have allowed 16 goals in 14 matches.
At goalkeeper is freshman Ashley Malloy, who has started every game this season. She has a record of 6-7-1 with four shutouts. She has an MIAA-leading 87 saves with a 1.12 GAA.
In Search of Another MIAA Title...UCM enters the week with a two-game lead and six-point edge over SBU in the MIAA standings. Any number of Jennies wins and SBU losses that add up to two will equal at least a share of the regular season MIAA title.
Strong Defense...The Jennies have allowed just eight goals this season, the second-lowest total in the MIAA. Their eight shutouts are also tied with Missouri Western for second-most in the conference.
Freshmen Trio...Three of the top five leading scorers for the Jennies this season are in their freshman seasons.
Alex Yockey,
Baylie Edwards and
Mikala Modiri have combined to score 15 goals and distribute eight assists. Seven of those 15 goals and have been game-winners, three belonging to Yockey (tied for second in MIAA). Yockey is currently second on the team with 16 points, one behind
Hannah Pyle.
Another Shutout for Dilkes...Freshman goalkeeper
Ana Dilkes picked up her eighth shutout of the season last week against the Bronchos. The Wichita, Kansas native has 13 wins this season, four shy of Brook Cooley's freshman record of 17 wins in 2010. That season, Cooley made 30 saves, compared to Dilkes' 48 through 14 matches in 2014. Her 48 saves are the most for a UCM goalkeeper since 2009 when Laruen Bamvakais saved 60 shots.
Pyle-ing Up the Assists...Sophomore forward
Hannah Pyle currently owns seven assists this season. Entering the week, Pyle is four assists away from setting the Jennies' single-season record, which would pass Teleshia Joseph (2002)
Kayla Shain (2011) and
Carly Stanley (2013), who each recorded 10 in their respective seasons.
Looking to Stay Unbeaten on the Road...The Jennies currently own a 6-0-1 record away from Warrensburg. Should they either win or tie the final two matches, they would go down as just the second team in program history to not lose on the road. The 2011 Jennies went 10-0-0 away from the South Recreation Complex.
Jennies Soccer (By the numbers)...UCM owns a 126-71-14 record all-time against Missouri schools.
The Jennies are 60-31-10 all-time against Missouri schools on the road.
