WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Two Central Missouri goals in the first two minutes were enough to hand No. 23 Griffon soccer (6-1) its first loss of the season Friday.

The No. 4-ranked Jennies (7-0) put MWSU down 1-0 just 20 seconds into the contest and added what would be their last goal of the game in the second minute. From that point on the Griffons controlled the pace, taking a 10-7 shot advantage to halftime. Missouri Western again forced control of the match early in the second half before eventually being out-shot 11-8 over the final 45 minutes. Missouri Western’s 18 shots were the most allowed by UCM this season.

Missouri Western became only the second team this season to hold Central Missouri to two goals, but also became the seventh to be shutout by the Jennies. Sarah Lyle finished the game with nine saves in goal.

UP NEXT
The Griffons travel to Lindenwood (3-4) for their MIAA opener one week after defeating the Lions 5-0 in St. Joseph. Sunday’s game begins at 4 p.m. Lindenwood lost 2-1 in overtime to Northwest Missouri, Friday.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST.CHARLES, Mo. – Griffon volleyball (7-7) defeated Lindenwood 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 26-24, 25-22) in their first match of the MIAA season. It is the third consecutive year that Missouri Western has won its conference opener.

BALANCED ATTACK
Lauren Murphy paced the Missouri Western offensewith 43 assists. Murphy was able to set up three Griffons with 11 kills or more in the match as well. Ali Tauchen led the trio with 14 kills, Stephanie Doak added 13 kills and Shellby Taylor finished with 11 kills. It is the fifth time this season MWSU has had at least three players record double-digit kills in the same match.

SHAKE IT OFF
The Griffons shook off a sluggish start against the Lions. Lindenwood won the first set 25-22, as MWSU finished the opening set with a .022 hitting percentage. Missouri Western responded by hitting .276 in a 25-16 second set victory. MWSU topped that by hitting .281 in the third set to take a 2-1 match lead.

COSTLY ERRORS
Lindenwood committed 14 service errors, the most by a Griffon opponent this season. The Lions would also make 22 attack errors in the match.

UP NEXT
Missouri Western travels to #15 Central Missouri on Saturday, Sept. 23 for a 3 p.m. match.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western volleyball team (6-7) fell to Truman State (4-6) 3-1 (25-19, 10-25, 25-22, 26-24) in the first home match of the season Tuesday.

TRUMAN RALLIES
Facing match point in the fourth set, the Bulldogs needed a match saving rally to survive the set. TSU rallied off four straight points to not only fight off match point but to win the set and match.

OUTHITTING THE OPPOSITION
Despite being on the wrong of the score, Missouri Western outhit Truman State in both kills and hitting percentage. The Griffons ended with 51 kills, eight more than the Bulldogs. MWSU hit .66 better than TSU in the match.

BLOCK PARTY
Missouri Western finished with 13 blocks (12 assists and one solo) in the match. Ali Tauchen led the way with four solo blocks. Four other Griffons finished with two block assists apiece. Rachel Losch provided the only MWSU solo block on the night.

UP NEXT
Missouri Western travels to Lindenwood on Friday, Sept. 22 in St. Charles, Missouri for the first conference match of the season. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the third week in a row, Missouri Western was represented in the MIAA Women’s Soccer Athletes of the Week.

Sarah Blakley was named MIAA Defensive Athlete of the Week after Cassidy Menke earned offensive honors each of the last two weeks.

Blakley continued her stellar defensive play and added a goal this past weekend as the Griffons outscored opponents 9-0. She scored the first of Missouri Western’s five goals against Lindenwood on Sunday. Blakley headed in a corner kick from Madeline Cowell just a little more than two minutes into Sunday’s game. The senior from Enid, Oklahoma also led a back line that kept Northwest Missouri and Lindenwood off the scoreboard over the weekend, allowing just 21 combined shots.

The Griffon soccer team is off to a program-best, 6-0 start and was ranked No. 23 in this week’s United Soccer Coaches poll. The Griffons travel to Warrensburg, Missouri this Friday to battle No. 4 Central Missouri.

— MWSU Athletics —

MUSKOGEE, Okla. – The Missouri Western men’s golf team finished tenth at the 19th Annual NSU Golf Classic at the Muskogee Country Club on Tuesday.

The Griffons shot a 300 in round three. Patrick McCarthy finished tied for 14th with a 2-over 215. Jacob Majeske shot his best round of the tournament on Tuesday with an even-par 71 to finish in a tie for 37th. Lucas Horseman finished tied for 55th with a 225 as did Tom Buffington.

Missouri Western finished ahead of conference foes Northeastern State, Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist.

The Griffons travel to Lake City, Minnesota and the Jewell Golf Club for an event hosted by Winona State University Sept. 25 through the 26th.

— MWSU Athletics —

MUSKOGEE, Okla. – The Missouri Western men’s golf team shot a 585 in the first two rounds of the Northeastern State Men’s Golf Classic at Muskogee Country Club Monday. MWSU is tied for 10th but they’re just 11 strokes out of third place heading into the final round.

Patrick McCarthy is tied for eighth place with a 1-under par 141 to lead Missouri Western on the opening day. Tom Buffington shot a 147 and Lucas Horseman carded a 148. Jacob Majeske finished the first day with a 150 as Kevin Kim scored a 151 to round out the MWSU scorecard.

Central Oklahoma leads the team standings with a 563. UCO’s Alexander Hughes is atop of the individual leaderboard with an 8-under 134. Final round of play for Missouri Western starts Tuesday at 9:28 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The 2017 Missouri Western soccer team has scored more goals than any team in program history after a 5-0 win over Lindenwood (3-3) Sunday at Craig Field at Spratt Memorial Stadium.

With the win, No. 24 Missouri Western improved to 6-0, the longest win streak in program history and bettering the program’s best-ever start.

MORE RECORDS FALL, TIED
Through six games in the 2017 season, the 24th-ranked Griffons have scored more goals (27) than any team in program history. The record breaking goal came in the 84th minute by Sydney Cluck. Cassidy Menke’s goal in the 58th minute tied her MWSU single season goals record (9) set in 2016. Madeline Cowell became MWSU’s career assists leader in the second minute when Sarah Blakley put the Griffs up 1-0 on a header off Cowell’s corner kick. She didn’t hold the record long before Cluck tied it in the 81st minute on Taylor Schwartzkopf’s seventh goal of the season.

DOMINANT WEEKEND
The Griffons scored nine combined goals this weekend and didn’t allow a single goal. On the season, Missouri Western has outscored its opponents 27-3.

HUGE GAME COMING
It’s a non-conference tilt, but next Friday may be the biggest game in program history. Missouri Western takes its undefeated record on the road to No. 4-ranked Central Missouri (6-0). UCM is coming off the same two opponents as the Griffons. The Mules defeated Lindenwood 7-0 on Friday and Northwest Missouri 4-0 on Sunday.

— MWSU Athletics —

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Missouri Western football team dropped to 1-2 on the season after a crazy 66-44 loss at Central Missouri Saturday.

The two teams combined for more than 1,040 yards of offense in a back-and-forth contest. It was the most points a Missouri Western football team allowed since the first game in Griffon football history (72) at Morningside in 1970.

BACK AND FORTH
The game featured five lead changes and one tie. Central Missouri jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Missouri Western scored 10-straight to take a 10-6 lead. The Griffons scored 10 unanswered to end the first half and go to the locker room tied 20-20. MWSU took a 23-20 lead on a Tyler Basch 46-yard field goal on Missouri Western’s first drive of the second half. UCM regained the lead again answering with an eight-play, 88-yard drive to take a 27-23 lead in the third quarter. Then the Griffons answered to take a 30-27 lead off a nine-yard Joshua Caldwell TD run with 5:44 left in the third quarter. Central Missouri led 45-30 when Dom Marino scrambled 67 yards for a touchdown to make it a one point game with 11:47 left in the game. Keylan Mack gave the Griffons their last home with 4:30 left on a four-yard touchdown run that made it 52-44, but UCM scored two more touchdowns to close it out.

GROUND GAME WORKING
Missouri Western rushed for 284 yards in the game. Caldwell gained 130 net rushing yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Marino’s 67-yard scamper helped him to an 81-yard total for the game. Derek Gray Jr. rushed nine times for 54 yards and a score.

PENALTIES, SPECIAL TEAMS HURT CHANCES
The Griffons were tagged for 12 penalties for 89 total yards. UCM was also flagged 12 times for 108 yards. Missouri Western’s penalties came at crucial times and hurt the teams’ chances. Several of the flags against the Griffons came on special teams plays. Central Missouri grabbed nearly all the momentum late in the third quarter on a special teams play. Shamar Griffith received a UCM kickoff in the end zone, brought the ball out of the end zone then went back in and was tackled for a safety that gave UCM a 42-30 lead with 13 seconds left in the third quarter. It also gave UCM the ball which the Mules turned into three points to extend the lead to 45-30 early in the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT
Missouri Western hosts Central Oklahoma, Saturday, Sept. 23 for a 6 p.m. kickoff. It will be Family Day/United Way Day at Missouri Western. Central Oklahoma (1-1) was at Fort Hays State Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The 24th ranked Missouri Western soccer team stayed unbeaten Friday inside Spratt Stadium as they defeated Northwest Missouri State 4-0 inside Spratt Stadium. The Griffon improve to 5-0.

Missouri Western’s four goals gave the team 22 throught its first five games, tying the 2016 team’s total for the full season. The 22 goals are also the tied for the second most ever in a Griffon soccer season.

HOW THEY SCORED
– Freshman Taylor Schwartzkopf scored her fifth goal of the season in the eighth minute off an assist from Madeline Cowell. The assist from Cowell tied her with Sydney Cluck for the most in a Griffon career with 17. Cluck just broke the record last week.

– Jordan Jennings scored her first of the season in the 39th minute, an unassisted goal on the right side of the box

– Cluck scored her third of the season in the 62nd minute. Cluck dribbled around a Bearcat defender and snuck it into the goal. It wasn’t originally ruled a goal, but two officials talked it over and later determined Cluck had scored.

– Sara Collins put the icing on the cake in the 71st minute with her first goal of the season off a Brooke Howe assist.

ANOTHER SHUTOUT FOR LYLE
Senior Sarah Lyle added to her career shutouts record, sharing this one with freshman Ally Barb. Lyle now has 14.4 career saves. It also really padded her career wins record, giving her 25 career wins, 15 more than any other Griffon goal keeper.

MORE SCORING
The Griffons need five more goals to break the program record for goals in a season set in 2009. With MWSU’s ridiculous 4.40 goals per game average, it shouldn’t take the team long to best that longstanding record. It was also the most goals the Griffons have ever scored on Northwest Missouri (1-2).

UP NEXT
It’s another non-conference home game against an MIAA opponent this Sunday for the Griffons. Lindenwood (3-2) visits Spratt Memorial Stadium at noon on Sunday. Lindenwood lost 7-0 at No. 4 Central Missouri on Friday.

— MWSU Athletics —

FORT SMITH, Ark. – The Missouri Western volleyball team defeated Henderson State 3-1 (25-16, 25-13, 20-25, 25-13) and fell to West Florida 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 25-21, 25-16) at the Carr Racop Invitational Friday.

BALANCE IS KEY
Missouri Western used a balanced attack in the first match against Henderson State as four players recorded double-digit kills in the match. Ali Tauchen led the charge as she finished with 14 kills and Shellby Taylor ended with 12 kills as both hit over .333 percent. Stephanie Doak and Rachel Losch both had 11 kills apiece for MWSU as well.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Lauren Murphy finished with 53 assists against HSU. It is the second-best performance of her career as she set a new career-high for a four-set match. Murphy also finished the match with a solo block and an ace.

RUNNIN’ AWAY
Tied 17-17 in the third set against West Florida, Lauren Murphy’s kill ignited a Griffon rally to win the third set. MWSU outscored UWF 7-2 during the rally to take a 23-19 lead. Missouri Western finished the Argonauts off to win the set with back-to-back kills by Rachel Losch.

UP NEXT
Missouri Western plays its final match of the Carr Racop Invitational at 9 a.m. against Newman University.

— MWSU Athletics —