ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s golf team ended the first day in sixth place with a 592 at the Holiday Inn Express/Candlewood Suites MWSU Central Region Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club.

Patrick McCarthy shot a 1-over par 143 in the first two rounds and is tied for fourth place to lead Missouri Western. Tied for eighteenth is Jakob Rudosky who shot a 5-over par 147. Kevin Kim and Jakob Majeske both ended their day 9-over par 151, tying them for thirty second. Lucas Horseman carded a 162 for his first day score.

The Griffons sit just twelve strokes off the lead as a team in the twenty team field, as McCarthy is just one stroke back from the individual leaders. MWSU opens the final round of play tomorrow at 9 a.m.

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MARYVILLE, Mo. – Missouri Western Women’s Golf team sits in fourth place with 321 after the first round of the Bearcat Fall Classic at Mozingo Lake Golf Course.

Shi Qing Ong leads the Griffons after shooting a 4-over par 76 and is currently tied for sixth place. Jenna Kosmatka and Tiffanie Yabut both shot a 9-over par 83 and are tied for twenty-first. Madison Romjue cracked the top forty with a score of 81 as Brittany Kennedy scored a 110 for MWSU on the opening day.

Missouri Western will tee off the second round tomorrow, beginning at 9 a.m.

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HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State got the Missouri Western soccer team in an early hole and didn’t take its foot off the gas, defeating the Griffons 3-0 on Sunday in Hays, Kansas.  It’s the first loss on the road this season for MWSU.

The Griffons gave up a goal in the 3rd minute, another in the 25th and Fort Hays State’s final goal came in the 72nd minute. Missouri Western ended the game with five shots, all coming in the first half and just three on goal. Fort Hays State was efficient, offensively, scoring three times on five shots on goal.

Paige LaBadie was credited with two saves, but took the loss. No Griffon recorded more than one shot in the game.

The loss dropped Missouri Western to 8-4 overall and 3-2 in the MIAA. The Griffons get to play their next five, but it’s a tough stretch. Missouri Western hosts Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State next weekend. UCO handed Central Missouri its first loss of the season this weekend and Northeastern State is 11-1 overall, 4-1 in the MIAA and is in a three-way tie atop the MIAA standings with UCO and Central Missouri.

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ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Missouri Western defense clamped down in the second half and helped the Griffon football team hold on for a 37-29 win at Lindenwood on Saturday.

Western took a 27-23 lead to halftime, but allowed more than 200 yards of offense to Lindenwood through the first two quarters. Over the last two, Missouri Western limited Lindenwood to just at 100 yards of offense. On the offensive side, the Griffons totaled 524 yards and got another career day from Josh Caldwell. The sophomore rushed 28 times for 184 yards but did not find the end zone.

Patrick Bolton did find the end zone twice on touchdown passes from Skyler Windmiller. Dijuan Ussery also hauled in a 67-yard touchdown strike from Windmiller, finishing the game with three catches for 90 yards.

Defensively, Missouri Western forced just one turnover, a crucial fourth quarter interception by Daylon Harper. Missouri Western also sacked Lindenwood quarterback Allen Thigpen four times in the game and limited him to just 121 yards passing. James Huskey led the Griffon defense with 12 total tackles, 10 solo stops and two tackles for loss. Huskey also forced a fumble.

Next week the Griffons host 4-2 Pittsburg State in the homecoming game at Missouri Western.

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ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Missouri Western Volleyball team lost at Lindenwood Saturday night 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16).

The Griffons won the first set 25-19, going on a 9-4 run to close out the set.  MWSU would hit .485 with 18 kills for the set.  Missouri Western battled back in the second set to tie it at 23 but Lindenwood would pull away to even the match.

MWSU got out to an early third set lead before the Lions would rally to win and take a 2-1 set advantage.  Again in the fourth set, the Griffons led early, however Lindenwood would rally late in the set to take the victory.

Kelsey Olion and Rachel Friedrich each had 12 kills as Blair Russell finished with 10. Lauren Murphy would ace the Lions twice as Olion, Friedrichs and Ashley Mainord would each added one.

Missouri Western returns home to host a pair of 7 p.m. matches beginning with Emporia State on Friday and Washburn on Saturday.

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ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Missouri Western Volleyball team upset #11 Central Missouri in five sets (14-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 15-12) at the MWSU Fieldhouse Friday night.

After dropping the first set, the Griffons started with fire in the second set. Leading 5-3, Ashley Mainord would drop a kill that ignited a 5-0 run to push the lead to 10-3 and MWSU would never look back.

The third set saw UCM take an early 12-7 advantage before a Rachel Losch kill and two aces from Kayla Ruff allowed Missouri Western to tie the set at 12-12.  Both teams would swap the lead before the Jennies rallied to take the set.

Stephanie Doak would start a 5-0 fourth set rally with a kill to give Missouri Western a 7-5 edge.  After that point neither team would take a lead greater than two points as they battled towards the end.  Rachel Friedrichs would get the set clinching kill to force the decisive fifth set.

The Griffons used a 3-0 start to set the tone of the fifth set and would never give up that lead up. Ashley Mainord would knock home the game winning kill for Missouri Western to complete the upset.

MWSU rallied behind Ashely Mainord, who finished with 10 kills, 6 blocks and an ace.  The Griffons also used a balance attack from Stephanie Doak’s 13 kills and Blair Russell’s 10 kills.  Tiana Butler continued to be a force at the service line as she aced the Jennies four times as Kayla Ruff served up two of her own aces.  Kelsey Olion tallied 20 digs and Ruff recorded 19 digs.  Kortney Blaufuss would end the night with 37 assist.

Missouri Western will look to build on their upset as it travels to Lindenwood Saturday for a 6 p.m. match.

— MWSU Athletics —

KEARNEY, Neb. – Cassidy Menke is making a habit of coming through in the clutch for the Missouri Western soccer team. The junior scored her fourth game-winning goal of the season Friday night at Nebraska-Kearney in the 95th minute to give her team its fourth overtime win of the season and eighth win overall.

Menke’s fifth goal of the season came from the left corner off an assist from Paige Phipps and broke a 1-all tie. Bridget Blessie put the Griffons on the board first, with a penalty kick in the 33rd minute. UNK tied it up in the 48th on a goal by Molly Willis. The Griffons had their chances to win it late in regulation as the Lopers were forced to play with 10 after a red card on Kadie Walaszcyk in the 86th minute. Cassidy Chappell had a shot from the right wing go wide with 15 seconds left in regulation.

In goal, Lexie Martin had four saves and improved to 5-1 on the season. Menke moved within two goals of tying the MWSU single season record of seven. Missouri Western moved two wins away from setting a program record for wins in a season with seven games remaining in the regular season.

The Griffons will look for win number nine this Sunday at Fort Hays State. The Tigers entered Friday night’s game against Northwest Missouri State 6-3-1 overall.

— MWSU Athletics —

LAKE CITY, Minn. – The Missouri Western men’s golf team used a strong second round to move up two spots and finish with its highest ranking of the fall, fourth, at the JR Watkins Invite in Lake City, Minnesota on Tuesday.

The Griffons shot 302 in Tuesday’s final round for a 605 two-round total, finishing 29-over par for the event. Freshman Patrick McCarthy was 3-over for the event, improving by seven strokes in his second round with a 70 on Tuesday. The freshman was the Griffons’ highest finisher, ending seventh.

Jakob Rudosky shot a 6-over 150 and finished tied for 17th. Kevin Kim finished tied for 24th with a 7-over 151. Lucas Horesman finished with a 158 and Jakob Majeske shot a 159 in his first collegiate event.

EDMOND, Okla. – The Missouri Western Women’s Golf team finished tied for eleventh place with a score of 653 at the RCB/Central Oklahoma Classic at the Fairfax Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Shi Qing Ong led MWSU, shooting a 152 and finishing tied for tenth place.  Jenna Kosmatka finished the tournament with a 162, as Madison Romjue carded a final score of 163.  Both Griffons would finish inside the top 40 of the field.  Tiffanie Yabut shot a 176 as Brittany Kennedy concluded her tournament with a 216.

Johany Rivera of St. Edward’s won the tournament with a score of 143, as St. Edward’s also took the team title shooting a 603. Missouri Western will finish the fall season out, Oct. 10 and Oct. 11 at the Midwest Classic in Maryville, Missouri.

— MWSU Athletics —

EDMOND, Okla. – The Missouri Western women’s golf team is tied for twelfth place after the first day of the RCB/Central Oklahoma Classic at the Fairfax Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Last week’s MIAA Fall Preview runner-up, Shi Qing Ong currently is tied for tenth after shooting a 76. Jenna Kosmatka opened up with a first round 78 and is tied for twentieth.

Madison Romjue shot an 85 for the Griffons. Tiffianie Yabut finished with a 94 and Brittany Kennedy completed her opening round with a 99 for MWSU.

Missouri Western will conclude the tournament with Tuesday’s second round beginning at 9 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —