The week ahead... The No. 10 Jennies (20-0-2) punched their ticket to the NCAA Tourney's Sweet 16 after blanking MIAA rival, Central Oklahoma, 2-0 in the second round of the NCAA-Central Regional last Sunday in Warrensburg.
UCM received goals from sophomore forward
Hannah Pyle and freshman midfielder
Megan Woolley in the victory over the Bronchos. Freshman
Ana Dilkes set two new UCM program records, picking up her 20th victory and her 13th shutout this season.
The Jennies will face undefeated Minnesota State (22-0), the No. 1 seed in the Central Region, on Friday, November 21 at 11 a.m in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Mavericks are currently ranked No. 1 in the Division II. The Jennies are 0-0-2 against Minnesota State all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Their last postseason match was November 16, 2012 in the NCAA-Central Region championship round, finishing in a 1-1 draw and falling to the Mavericks, 5-4 in PK's.
Under head coach
Lewis Theobald, the Jennies are 4-4-2 in NCAA Tournament play. The win over Central Oklahoma snapped a two-game losing streak in the tournament. It is the third NCAA-II Round of 16 appearance in the school's history (all under Theobald).
Should the Jennies defeat Minnesota State, it would be the first Elite 8 appearance in program history. UCM would play the winner of the Wisconsin-Parkside-Grand Valley State match on Sunday, November 23 at 12 p.m.
Series History...Minnesota State: The all-time series is knotted at 4-4-2. The Jennies have won two of the past four meetings overall.
The Coaches...Brian Bahl (Minnesota State): Brian Bahl was named head coach of the Minnesota State women's soccer program in the spring of 2013, becoming the fourth head coach in the program's history.
In his first year at the helm, Bahl was tabbed National Soccer Coaches Association of America Central Region Coach of the Year for guiding the Mavericks to a 17-3-2 overall record and 13-1-1 mark inside the conference en route to claiming the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season and tournament championships. This marked the first time in program history MSU had collected both league titles as the Mavericks also matched the program's wins record (17). Under Bahl's direction, Minnesota State was awarded the region's top seed in the NCAA Tournament where it was eliminated in the second round. Six Mavericks were selected All-NSIC, including NSIC Offensive Player of the Year Korey Kronforst, while seven MSU student-athletes were named Daktronics or NSCAA All-Central Region. Kronforst became MSU's first Daktronics First Team All-American, while Emily Moris garnered NSCAA Third Team All-American and NSCAA Scholar Third Team All-American honors and Tori Meinhardt collected CoSIDA Academic Second Team All-American distinctions.
Head Coach Lewis Theobald Seven-time MIAA Coach of the Year,
Lewis Theobald is in his eighth season as head coach at Central Missouri with a stunning 129-22-17 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. In 2014, he guided the Jennies to their second unbeaten regular season in program history, finishing 17-0-1 with a 14-0 mark in MIAA play, and the program's second MIAA Tournament championship in four years. 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.
NCAA-II Central/Midwest Region ScheduleHost site: Mankato, Minnesota Regional (Kenosha, Wisconsin)Game 1: Friday, November 21
(2) Central Missouri (20-0-2) vs. (1) Minnesota State (22-0) | 11 a.m. CST
Game 2: Friday, November 21
(2) Grand Valley State (19-2-1) vs. (1) Wisconsin-Parkside (18-0-3) | 1:30 p.m. CST
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner on Sunday, November 23 at 12 p.m. CST
Scouting the week's competition...Minnesota State: The Mavericks' offense is paced by junior forward Korey Kronforst who has started all 22 matches, ranking first in goals with 15 and points with 34. She also has four assists. Sophomore midfielder Kiana Nickel and senior midfielder Emily Moris have both distributed double-digit assists with 10 and 14, respectively this season. Defensively, Minnesota State boasts one of the premiere defenses in the country. yielding just five goals for a .227 GAA (second-lowest in NCAA-II). Sophomore Sidni Trotter, junior Emily Erickson and freshman Jaden Vogelgesang protect the defensive backline for Minnesota State. They allow just 5.5 shots per match. At goalkeeper is Molly McGough. She is 20-0 with a 0.26 GAA (five goals allowed) in 1705 minutes of action. She has saved 38 shots that have come her way and has blanked the opponent 13 times and combined for two other shutouts. 