No. 6 Jennies Soccer Kicks Off 2022 Season at Home Thursday and Saturday

Andrew Mather Photography

Women's Soccer | 8/24/2022 10:00:00 AM

Scene Setter

Defending MIAA Regular Season and NCAA-II Central Region Champion Central Missouri Jennies soccer is slated to open its 2022 season at home at the South Recreation Complex Thursday, Aug. 25, and Saturday, Aug. 27. The Jennies season opener is slated for 7 p.m. Thursday against SWOSU before hosting Oklahoma Baptist Saturday at 1 p.m.
Central Missouri is ranked preseason No. 6 in the United Soccer Coaches Division II Poll and is the preseason favorite in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
UCM returns nine starters from last season's conference and regional champion squad that went 20-4-1 overall and 9-1-1 in the MIAA, including All-American and reigning MIAA Freshman of the Year Caroline Cole (25 GP, 6 G, 5 A, 17 Pts, 60 Sh, .100 Shot%, 29 SOG, .483 SOG%, 4 GW), and All-MIAA honorees Sydney Leslie (25 GP, 16 G, 32 Pts, 76 Sh, .211 Shot%, 35 SOG, .461 SOG%, 3 GW, 3-3 PK), Ashleigh Martin (25 GP, 8 G, 4 A, 20 Pts, 35 Sh, .229 Shot%, 17 SOG, .486 SOG%, 3 GW), Isa Yanes (24 GP, 4 G, 8 Pts, 15 Sh, 7 SOG, .467 SOG%, 3 GW), Lindsay Edmonds (25 GP, 3 G, 2 A, 8 Pts, 7 SOG, .467 SOG%, 1 GW), Lexi Ruf (21 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 3 Pts, 6 SOG, .667 SOG%) and Molly Ricker (25 GP, 8 Sh, 3 SOG, .375 SOG%).

Preseason Picks

Jennies soccer was voted preseason No. 1 in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll for the 2022 season.
UCM received 121 points and 11 of 12 possible first-place votes in the poll.

Home Cookin'

Dating back to the 2016 season, the Jennies are 59-3-1 at the South Recreation Complex. During that span, UCM has surrendered just 41 goals.
All-time at the South Recreation Complex, UCM is 199-34-9 under head coach Lewis Theobald and 136-13-8 in overall program history. The Jennies have compiled undefeated home records five times.

Experienced Edmonds

Jennies redshirt junior defender Lindsay Edmonds has played and started in a team-high 48 straight matches going into 2022. She has logged 3,717 minutes on the pitch entering the season.

Clutch Cole

Central Missouri redshirt sophomore forward Caroline Cole netted six goals and dished out five assists in 2021. Four of her goals were game winners, who tied for the team lead in 2021 with former UCM standout and All-American Kassie Newsom.
Her four game-winning goals ranked 10th in the MIAA in 2021.

Continuing Momentum

Sophomore forward Ashleigh Martin ended her 2021 campaign with two goals in UCM's final three matches. The St. Charles, Mo., native tallied eight goals in 25 contests last season.

Welcome to the 'Burg!

The Jennies welcome 10 newcomers to their 2022 squad, including six high school freshmen and four transfers.
Incoming high school student-athletes include Kate Hermelink (MF), Hailey Jolliff (F), Anna Lack (MF), Calynn Harbert (D), Greycen Erisman (MF) and Rylie Hughes (F) while incoming transfer student-athletes include Madilyn Hamline (F), Kloee Grubb (D), Natalie Wilson (D) and Olivia Ways (GK).

Series History

SWOSU: The Jennies and the Bulldogs will meet for the 12th time in program history on the pitch Thursday. UCM is a perfect 11-0-0 vs. SWOSU, including a 6-0-0 mark in Warrensburg. Central Missouri faced SWOSU twice last season, downing the Bulldogs in Weatherford, Okla., 1-0, before defeating SWOSU at home in the NCAA-II Central Regional, 1-0.
Oklahoma Baptist: UCM and Oklahoma Baptist will meet for just the second time in program history Saturday. The Jennies won the inaugural meeting in the series last season in Shawnee, Okla., 3-0.

Head Coach Lewis Theobald
Central Missouri women's soccer head coach Lewis Theobald, now in his 15th year, has transformed the Jennies Soccer program into one of the premier programs not only in the MIAA, but in all of NCAA Division II.

The 10-time MIAA and five-time region Coach of the Year, enters the 2022 season with an impressive 256-39-21 record. He recorded more wins in his first three seasons than any other coach in school history and is the all-time winningest coach in Jennies soccer history. He brought home the program's first ever National Championship in the 2017 season.

Theobald enters the 2022 season as the winningest active coach in Division II women's soccer with an .843 winning percentage, among coaches with at least five years on the sidelines. He also is the all-time D-II leader among coaches with at least 10 years and is sixth all-time in all NCAA Divisions.

During his tenure, Theobald has coached 19 All-Americans and 119 All-MIAA honorees.
A 1999 graduate of the University of Kansas, Theobald received his bachelor's degree in education with a concentration in physical education.

On the Horizon
The Jennies travel to Michigan for a pair of non-conference tests Sept. 2 and 4. UCM will face defending NCAA-II National Champion and preseason No. 1-ranked Grand Valley State Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. CT in Allendale, Mich., before taking on Davenport Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. CT in Caledonia, Mich.

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