After a 1-0 victory against Kansas City on Sept. 7, Mizzou soccer moved to 3-3-1 as SEC play approaches. The non-conference schedule featured a mixed bag of ranked and mid-major opponents. The Tigers, for the most part, took care of business in matches they were supposed to win, but could not manage any upset wins.
Losing players like Kylee Simmons, Milena Fischer and Leah Selm hurt, but younger players in Stefanie Golan’s system have stepped up. The last time Mizzou made the SEC Tournament was in 2020,
and the team has never made it in Golan’s tenure.
We’ve learned a lot about this group from the first seven matches, and it will be a dog fight to gain a postseason berth.
Let’s review.
Illinois Match Halted Hopes
The Tigers entered a match against the Fighting Illini coming off two close losses against ranked teams and a 2-0 win against Missouri State on the road. Coming back home to Audrey J. Walton Stadium for a matchup with Illinois felt like the perfect opportunity to claim a high-quality win.
The match ended in a 2-0 loss that was particularly frustrating because Mizzou almost doubled Illinois’ shot attempts, but lacked the capitalization necessary to compete. Credit has to be given to the Fighting Illini’s goalkeeper, Izzy Lee, who made eight saves and has only allowed one goal on the season.
“This was not a step forward,” Golan said afterwards. “The priority is that we use every opportunity to take a step forward and get better in some way, shape or form.”
Lack of Scoring Opportunities
Golan has opted to a 4-3-3 formation for the majority of this season. While the defense has been solid for the Tigers, the offense ranks at the bottom of the SEC in most stats. They rank 15th in both scoring average and shot attempts. Something that is concerning is that Mizzou is ninth in corner kicks attempted this season, which shows a lack of execution in the box.
“We had 12 corners (in the KC match), scored one of them, but had some other really good looks off of that,” Golan said. “I thought that we had some where we drove the end line and we got really good low services across and we have to be grittier in the box.”
The South Dakota State and Saint Louis matches especially tanked the Tigers’ stats on the season. They had a combined total of 13 shots through those two contests. A singular player has yet to step up as the primary source of offense.
Too Physical at Times
Mizzou is averaging 11.71 fouls per game, good for second most in the conference. That leaves too many free kick chances for opposing teams. Contrary to the Tigers’ sheer number of fouls this season, there have only been three yellow cards and zero red cards on Golan’s squad.
Through the seven non-conference matches, there was only one time where the Tigers had less fouls than their opponent, their most recent match against Kansas City. The lack of free kicks for the Roos gave them less chances at creating from a set offense and ended the match with only three shot attempts.
The SEC schedule begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12 against the 2-4-1 Texas Longhorns. Mizzou’s first two conference matches will be held at Audrey J. Walton Stadium, the second will bring the No. 1 ranked Tennesee Volunteers to Columbia.
