Soccer opens MIAA Schedule

The Missouri Southern women’s soccer team had a successful Labor Day weekend.

They won their home opener 2-1 in overtime against the Rockhurst Hawks on Sept. 4, and followed up that game on Sept. 7 with a decisive 3-0 victory against the St. Mary’s Rattlers. The two wins bring the Lions’ record to 2-2 on the year with the all important conference play starting this week.

“Conference play really ends up being a battle,” said Lions’ Head Coach Trevor Wachsman. “The games end up being extremely close.”

Every conference game is important for the Lions to reach their National Championship goal because the winner of the conference gets an automatic berth into the tournament.

“When you play the conference teams twice a year you gain a sense of familiarity with the different teams,” Wachsman said. “It really adds to the intensity of each game. “

Central Missouri looks to be the favorite this year, voted No. 1 in the preseason coaches’ poll, followed by Truman State, and Nebraska-Omaha. Although it’s too early to tell who is the front-runner of the conference, Wachsman believes it very well could be the Lions.

“It will be tough because there are multiple teams toward the top, but there really is not one team that we feel we don’t match up with,” said Wachsman. “We just need to work hard during preparation.”

Southern traveled to Warrensburg yesterday to take on the Central Missouri Jennies, but scores were not available at press time, however the Lions will also be in action tomorrow heading to Southwest Baptist to take on the Bearcats.