Mizzou soccer gets even younger as it adds a five-woman high school recruiting class to the program. The class consists of midfielders Lana Adams, Petra Bandula and Rylie Morse, and forwards Audrey Gilbert
and Aisling Meehan. Compared to head coach Stefanie Golan’s 2025 freshman crop, this group is far more diverse geographically.
This new group of Tigers is clearly built to fix the glaring offensive issues from the 2025 roster and could see multiple players have immediate impacts. Let’s get into what makes each footballer unique.
Lana Adams, Perryville, Mo.
As the lone in-state product in the class, Adams brings an attacking presence to the midfield. At the club level, she was a part of the Lou Fusz Girls Academy, where she helped the team win a national championship in 2023. Adams stands at 5-foot-6 and won All-State Offensive Player of the Year at St. Vincent DePaul High School.
Along with her talents on the pitch, Adams is a mutli-sport athlete, helping St. Vincent basketball to a district title in her freshman season. She tore her ACL going into sophomore year, erasing her entire basketball season.
Adams is the type of player in both basketball and soccer that knows how to use her physicality as an advantage. She will fit in perfectly with a Mizzou team that finished with the second most fouls per game in the SEC in 2025.
Petra Bandula, Oakville, On.
Bandula brings the most variety of experience from the 2026 Tiger recruits. She is from Canada, but also has Croatian roots, receiving several call-ups to the U15 and U17 Croatian National teams. Most recently for Croatia, Bandula played in three European Championship Qualifying matches in 2024 where she helped the team get a League A promotion.
She brings experience playing in the US as well – a former member of the club Western New York Flash. In her homestate, Bandula attends and plays for Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School.
Bandula has the ability to play both forward and midfielder due to her athletic traits. She is an all-around competitor and brings an international presence to Mizzou after the program stuck with American talents in its 2025 class. The raw skills Bandula possesses should bring a spark to the attacking third.
Audrey Gilbert, Frisco, Tx.
Golan is know stanger to the Lone Star state in terms of recruiting, nabbing Jessica Larson and most recently Kelby Dansby in her tenure. In what may be the biggest get for the Tigers in recent years, Gilbert is one of the best high school players in Texas. She received 2024 Texas 5A State Champion and MVP honors last season for Wakeland High School.
In the 2024-25 season, Gilbert totaled 35 points across 17 games with 13 goals and nine assists. Gilbert is a pure forward that excels with the ball at her feet or moving in open space to create opportunities for her teammates.
She is a two-time ECNL First Team selection for her club team, DKSC. Another quality that makes Gilbert an exciting addition to the offense is her ability to get behind defenders and get open for through balls. Mizzou desperately needed to add a player with her instincts.
Aisling Meehan, Wicklow, Ire.
The second of the Tigers’ international recruits and second true forward is Meehan out of Ireland. She is the tallest incoming player standing 5-foot-8 and has clear attacking power behind her kicks. Meehan plays for her high school, Holy Child Killiney Secondary School, the DLR Waves at the club level and even has experience playing on the Replublic of Ireland’s U17 and U19 squads.
She came off the bench for the U17 squad in 2024 and most notably scored a hatrick against Portugal. Meehan alternates between playing on the wing and central striker for the Waves, but is envisioned as a winger per Golan.
The competitive environement of the SEC should be nothing new for the Irish attacker. Meehan’s versitility makes her an exciting chess piece for Golan to use as a spark for the offense. While she is primarily a scorer, her skills as a ball handler makes Meehan’s upside as an all-around attacking weapon high.
Rylie Morse, Lebanon, Oh.
Rounding out the class is a score-first midfielder from Ohio. At the club level, Morse spent 12 years with Cincinnati United Premier before joining the Michigan Hawks in 2024, the same club that midflielder Landis Canada played for.
Morse is a very technical player that is great at controlling the tempo of an offense. Mizzou needs more players that can help win the possession battle and she projects as a good connecting piece for the future.
Of the players in the 2026 crop, Morse fits the mold of a project player out of all of them. She doesn’t have eye-popping stats or awards, but the coaching staff can take its time developing her.
The 2026 recruiting class is highly promising and adds on to one of the youngest rosters in the conference. The new Tigers will look to help the team reach its first SEC Tournament berth since the 2020 season, shifting the reputation around the program
