Missouri Southern women’s soccer kicked in the right direction Sept. 20-21.

The Lions traveled eight hours to South Dakota only to be beaten by North Dakota State University on Sept. 20, 4-0. The Lions improved themselves on Sept. 21 against the University of South Dakota, winning 3-1.

Tara Reisner, junior forward was named MIAA Player of the Week for her performance on Sunday.

“It was unexpected, it’s all about teamwork and everyone playing off of each other,” she said.

Reisner had two goals and an assist Sept. 21 against USD.

“We were able to possess the ball a lot better on Sunday and forced the other team to defend the ball,” said Trevor Wachsman, head women’s soccer coach.

“We really came together on Sunday,” said Jessica Buhman, freshman defender. “If we can play that well on the rest of our games, we should do really well.”

As of now, the Lions are undefeated in the conference, 1-0-1. Southern’s overall record is 2-4-1; the tie came against the University of Missouri-Rolla.

“We have a really positive attitude and we can win a lot of games with this positive attitude and lots of hard work,” said Noel Klapp, freshman forward.

“We’ve done a good job trying to learn from each game,” Wachsman said. “We are getting stronger with each game and hopefully that trend continues. The team is working really hard. It is just a matter of taking training into the game and lasting for 90 minutes.”

There is a maximum of 20 hours of practice a week, two hours a day for four to five days a week and an average of two games a week.

“Truman State is a tough team,” Wachsman said. “They’ve been to the national tournament and they expect to win.”

For the Lions to win versus TSU, Reisner said the team would need to play like it did against USD. The next game for the Lions is at 7 p.m. Monday Oct. 6 at home against TSU.