Soccer team to face two No. 1-ranked teams

By Ross Taylor

Published Sept. 14, 2007

This weekend, the No. 20-ranked MU soccer team will square off with two of the nation's top teams. The Tigers (4-0) begin play in the Stanford Invitational against Stanford at 9:30 p.m. today in Palo Alto, Calif. The Tigers play Santa Clara at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Both teams sit atop the nation in respective polls, and SoccerTimes.com ranks Stanford at No. 1, whereas Soccer America ranks Santa Clara at No. 1.

Missouri last faced a No. 1-ranked team in 2001, when it lost to North Carolina 7-0. But the invitational and the chance to play against two highly regarded opponents will help the team and coaching staff gauge just how prepared the Tigers are for the tough conference schedule ahead.

"All around the field we're going to see more of a challenge, but I think we need that," coach Bryan Blitz said. "That's why we put these games in. We want to see where we're really at."

The tournament marks the third consecutive weekend on the road for Missouri. It is also a scheduling strategy that has given the team the opportunity to adapt to tough road environments before a conference season that includes back-to-back road games against No. 7 Texas and No. 18 Colorado, and, potentially, road games in the NCAA Tournament.

"It's a whole different style of play over there, but we just have to make sure we make them play our game and we don't sink down and play into their game," sophomore goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore said.

Thus far into non-conference play, Dittamore and the defense have refused to play into opponents' hands. The team enters this weekend with a shutout streak of more than 241 minutes of play, having last surrendered a goal in the 29th minute of a 5-2 win against Western Michigan on Sept. 2.

But the interesting matchup of the weekend could be between Missouri's prolific offense and Stanford's stingy defense. In Missouri's first four games, the Tigers scored 3 1/4 goals per game. Stanford has surrendered only two goals in four games this season, both of which were scored by opponents ranked in the top 10 nationally.

But if there is one thing the Stanford defense might not expect, it is Missouri's high-pressure attack.

"Our forwards are going to be all over their backs," sophomore forward Michelle Collins said. "They're going to want to play around in the back and play real pretty and pass it around, and we're just going to make them make mistakes."

When the gauntlet of tests out West ends, the Tigers have less than two weeks to prepare for their conference opener against the Big 12's arguably toughest test. After home non-conference games against California and Texas Christian, Missouri opens conference play at home against the preseason Big 12 favorite, No. 6 Texas A&M.

But Blitz said the challenge of building Missouri's program against top-ranked teams is what attracted most of his players to Columbia.

"Our kids are always excited to play teams that are ranked higher than us," Blitz said. "That's why they came to Missouri: to play against those teams and see where we stand."