Sports Shorts

By Alex Keckeisen and Vinnie Duber

Published Oct. 6, 2009

Soccer plays two ties over the weekend

The Missouri women's soccer team's trip to Texas this weekend produced a pair of ties in two competitive battles with the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies.

Friday night, the Tigers played to a 1-1 tie with the Longhorns in Austin, Texas. They barely avoided defeat as senior forward Michelle Collins scored the Tigers' only goal with one minute, one second remaining in regulation. The two teams then played two scoreless overtime periods.

Senior goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore allowed just one goal, and the Tigers again attacked their opponents, out-shooting the Longhorns 24-10 in 110 minutes of soccer.

Sunday, the Tigers squared off against the No. 16 Aggies in a battle of the two teams picked to win the Big 12 in the conference coach's preseason poll. The game featured much more offense than Friday's, but it produced the same result. The two teams played to a 4-4 tie in a back and forth game.

Ten minutes into the game, Collins continued her goal-scoring streak by netting the game's first score and giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Texas A&M sophomore midfielder/forward Katie Hamilton tied the game at 1-1. The score would remain tied until halftime.

One minute into the second half, the Aggies took a 2-1 lead, but in the very next minute, Missouri senior midfielder Bree Thornton scored to retie the game 2-2. Sophomore forward Kendra Collins gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead on a goal with 22 minutes remaining in regulation, but the Aggies would answer with a goal of their own with just eight minutes remaining.

Immediately following the Aggies' third goal, Missouri senior forward Kristin Andrighetto scored to retake a 4-3 lead. Texas A&M would need just four minutes to tie the game again. The two teams played two scoreless periods of overtime, causing the game to end in a 4-4 tie.

The Tigers record now stands at 6-4-3. Missouri returns home Friday to take on the Colorado Buffaloes at Walton Stadium.

Volleyball drops two straight conference matches

The Missouri volleyball team dropped to 2-3 in the Big 12 after facing two top-20 teams this past week in Baylor and Iowa State. Things don't get any easier for the Tigers as they will face nobody but conference opponents until Oct. 31.

On Sept. 30, the Tigers traveled to Waco, Texas, to face No. 19 Baylor (15-1, 4-1 in Big 12) and fell to the Bears in three sets (13-25, 18-25, 23-25).

Junior libero Caitlyn Vann recorded 14 digs for the Tigers (moving her into sixth-place all-time at Missouri) but the Tigers could not find a way to slow the Baylor attack.

Junior outside hitter Catie Wilson played consistently with eight kills on 16 total attacks and a .375 hitting percentage. The foils to Wilson's consistency were the other three outside hitters -- juniors Julianna Klein, Paola Ampudia and Rosa Medrano. The trio combined for 23 kills on 82 total attacks but also totaled 18 errors for a .061 hitting percentage.

The Tigers second game of the week came Saturday against No. 14 Iowa State (12-3, 4-2 in Big 12) and resulted in a closer match but ultimately a loss in three sets (23-25, 17-25, 26-28). Both teams hit below .200 and combined for a total of 129 digs, including 20 by Vann.

Again, Wilson performed consistently with eight kills on 19 total attacks (.316) and four blocks for the Tigers. Coach Wayne Kreklow has emphasized the importance of Wilson's consistency throughout the season, and she has not disappointed in Big 12 play.

The Tigers next game is on Wednesday against Colorado (5-10, 0-6 in Big 12) at the Hearnes Center. The Buffaloes are one of three teams yet to record a win in Big 12 play, though Texas Tech and Kansas State have only played four games apiece.