Sports Shorts
Published Sept. 1, 2006
Hamblin gains national recognition
MU sophomore Ashley Hamblin was named www.SoccerTimes.com's National Player of the Week and the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week for her performance last weekend in the season-opening Tiger Invitational.
The conference and national player of the week awards were the first awards of her college career.
The Tigers hosted Iowa, Illinois and South Carolina and won the tournament with wins over Iowa and No. 13 Illinois.
Hamblin contributed eight points in the Tigers' two weekend games and led the Big 12 Conference in points as well as points per game.
She is tied for second in the conference in goals with three and tied for third in the Big 12 in assists with two.
The sophomore forward, who played in all 20 games last season, starting 15 of them, has already surpassed her numbers put up last year when she mainly played defense.
Hamblin's offensive outburst in the opening weekend, however, has given Tigers fans a positive outlook on the season.
Hamblin was included in the Soccer America and SoccerBuzz national teams of the week and is the first MU player to receive national player of the week recognition since 2002, when Lacy Moore received the honor.
MU will travel to Evanston, Ill., next for its third straight game against a Big Ten opponent when it meets Northwestern at 3 p.m. today.
The team will continue its run against Big Ten competition on Sunday when it travels to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 1 p.m.
Both games are part of the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge.
Tigers have easiest opener of Big 12 schools
According to Jeff Sagarin's college football ratings, MU's opener is the easiest of the Big 12 schools by a wide margin.
Week one opponent Murray State ranked 193rd in the Sagarin ratings after a 2-9 campaign a season ago.
The Racers rank more than 50 spots lower in the ratings than the next best team that will play a Big 12 school opening weekend, Northwestern State, who will travel to Kansas.
The Tigers, who are ranked 48th, will not face a team in the top 50 until their conference opener against Colorado, who sits at 39th in the Sagarin ratings.
The Tigers' remaining non-conference games include Mississippi (ranked 67th), New Mexico (ranked 63rd) and Ohio (ranked 126th).