2008 Woodie Awards
Soccer 'Cats head to postseason play
Chris Keller
Issue date: 11/11/04 Section: News
The Southwest Baptist Bearcat soccer team reached NCAA postseason play for the first time in school history, following a remarkable 16-2-2 regular season. The 'Cats finished second in the MIAA, their only blemish being a 1-0 road loss to conference champion Truman State last weekend.
Entering the final two games of the season with a half-game lead in the MIAA standings, the 'Cats were set to face regionally-ranked Emporia State before taking on Truman in a championship-deciding match.
At an Oct. 22 home match, the 'Cats outlasted Emporia in a 2-1 come-from-behind overtime victory. SBU struck first as sophomore Pip Meo scored unassisted in the 15th minute. With this goal, her 15th of the season, Meo passed junior Ashley Munnelly for the single-season goals record.
Not to be outdone, Munnelly added her 15th goal of the season 10 minutes later on an assist from Meo to give the 'Cats a 2-0 lead. Then, just eight seconds before halftime, Meo scored a second goal, resetting the record once more.
SBU continued to add to its lead as junior Valerie Chaston, on a Meo assist, netted a goal from 25 feet in the 55th minute. Meo added her third assist of the game in the 81st minute after Munnelly scored the game's final goal which gave SBU a 5-0 win. This left Meo and Munnelly as co-holders of SBU's single-season goals record - each having 16 goals. Junior goalkeeper Sara Eppler had five saves to record SBU's ninth shutout of the season.
After win over Emporia, the 'Cats set their sights on Truman, the defending conference champion. On Oct. 16 in Bolivar, SBU played Truman to a 1-1 draw. In their final regular season match, the Nov. 6 SBU-TSU game would determine the MIAA champion - and would impact the Central Region rankings with SBU and TSU entering the contest ranked third and first, respectively.
In the highly anticipated match-up, Truman senior Stephanie Cepicky scored on an intended crossing pass that sailed over Eppler in the 22nd minute. The goal proved decisive despite SBU's 16-5 shooting advantage. The loss, SBU's second of the season, gave the MIAA championship to Truman (18-0-2) by a single point.
Breaking records was a common occurrence for SBU this season. In addition to the season goals record set by both Meo and Munnelly, SBU broke the MIAA record for team goals in a season with 60, erasing the mark set by Truman last year.
The 'Cats also set a new record for consecutive goals in a season by scoring in 19 straight games.
Individually, Eppler had the best goals against average in school history, allowing only 0.63 goals per game.
Despite the hard-luck loss to Truman, the 'Cats amazing season continued on when SBU was selected for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time ever in school history. At 2:30 p.m. today, Nov. 12, SBU will take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha (17-3-1) in Kirksville. Earlier this year, UNO edged SBU 3-2 in Omaha. The winner of the SBU-UNO match will play the victor of the Truman State-South Dakota (14-4) match at 12 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, also in Kirksville. Going into Friday's match with UNO, SBU Head Coach Pete McGovern is confident.
"We're delighted to play them again," McGovern said. They've been to Final Fours before and we have the opportunity to right what happened to us at Omaha earlier this season. We feel we've improved from that game."
Regarding the tourney itself, McGovern said the 'Cats definitely earned their way.
"We felt like we deserved to go to the NCAA Tournament," he said. "We're all overwhelmed from this - it's something we've been working for all year."
Entering the final two games of the season with a half-game lead in the MIAA standings, the 'Cats were set to face regionally-ranked Emporia State before taking on Truman in a championship-deciding match.
At an Oct. 22 home match, the 'Cats outlasted Emporia in a 2-1 come-from-behind overtime victory. SBU struck first as sophomore Pip Meo scored unassisted in the 15th minute. With this goal, her 15th of the season, Meo passed junior Ashley Munnelly for the single-season goals record.
Not to be outdone, Munnelly added her 15th goal of the season 10 minutes later on an assist from Meo to give the 'Cats a 2-0 lead. Then, just eight seconds before halftime, Meo scored a second goal, resetting the record once more.
SBU continued to add to its lead as junior Valerie Chaston, on a Meo assist, netted a goal from 25 feet in the 55th minute. Meo added her third assist of the game in the 81st minute after Munnelly scored the game's final goal which gave SBU a 5-0 win. This left Meo and Munnelly as co-holders of SBU's single-season goals record - each having 16 goals. Junior goalkeeper Sara Eppler had five saves to record SBU's ninth shutout of the season.
After win over Emporia, the 'Cats set their sights on Truman, the defending conference champion. On Oct. 16 in Bolivar, SBU played Truman to a 1-1 draw. In their final regular season match, the Nov. 6 SBU-TSU game would determine the MIAA champion - and would impact the Central Region rankings with SBU and TSU entering the contest ranked third and first, respectively.
In the highly anticipated match-up, Truman senior Stephanie Cepicky scored on an intended crossing pass that sailed over Eppler in the 22nd minute. The goal proved decisive despite SBU's 16-5 shooting advantage. The loss, SBU's second of the season, gave the MIAA championship to Truman (18-0-2) by a single point.
Breaking records was a common occurrence for SBU this season. In addition to the season goals record set by both Meo and Munnelly, SBU broke the MIAA record for team goals in a season with 60, erasing the mark set by Truman last year.
The 'Cats also set a new record for consecutive goals in a season by scoring in 19 straight games.
Individually, Eppler had the best goals against average in school history, allowing only 0.63 goals per game.
Despite the hard-luck loss to Truman, the 'Cats amazing season continued on when SBU was selected for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time ever in school history. At 2:30 p.m. today, Nov. 12, SBU will take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha (17-3-1) in Kirksville. Earlier this year, UNO edged SBU 3-2 in Omaha. The winner of the SBU-UNO match will play the victor of the Truman State-South Dakota (14-4) match at 12 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, also in Kirksville. Going into Friday's match with UNO, SBU Head Coach Pete McGovern is confident.
"We're delighted to play them again," McGovern said. They've been to Final Fours before and we have the opportunity to right what happened to us at Omaha earlier this season. We feel we've improved from that game."
Regarding the tourney itself, McGovern said the 'Cats definitely earned their way.
"We felt like we deserved to go to the NCAA Tournament," he said. "We're all overwhelmed from this - it's something we've been working for all year."
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