The Missouri State University field hockey team finished a disappointing season at 2-19. MSU was 1-9 in its third season as a member of the Mid-American Conference.
The Bears played a full 20-game regular season. They faced off against three former Nor-Pac rivals, four teams that were ranked and five other teams that received votes in the preseason National Field Hockey Coaches Association 2007 STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. Three of the Bears' opponents finished the regular season ranked in the national poll. Iowa was listed the highest in the Nov. 6 final poll at No. 5, while the Louisville sat at No. 13 and MAC rival Ohio was No. 15.
Missouri State continued its domination over Robert Morris in 2007 to increase its series record to 2-0 with a 1-0 win on Sept. 16. Amanda Miyashita had the game-winning goal over the Colonials.
The Bears also earned an exciting home victory over Ball State to finish the regular season and get the graduating seniors one last victory on their home field. Senior Melissa Millin scored the Bears' first goal against BSU, while sophomore Melissa Lantz scored the game-winner.
The season ended for the Bears in the first round of the MAC Tournament in Oxford, Ohio, as the Bears fell, 3-1, in the opening round match to host Miami. Lantz scored Missouri State's only goal with an unassisted shot bouncing one off the Miami goalkeeper's pads.
Senior goalkeeper Kim Kinsella won the Bears' only MAC Player of the Week award on Oct. 30, going 1-1 during weekend matches against Miami and Ball State. Kinsella finished the season with 239 saves, a save percentage ranking eighth in the country (.794) and was first in the nation in saves per game (11.38). She started every game for the Bears, only allowing 62 goals in 1386:15 minutes of play. The goalkeeper duo of Kinsella and junior Jessica Schuster netted the top spot in team saves per game (11.90) and No. 16 in save percentage (.776).
Junior defender Sarah Johnson was the Bears' lone representative on the All-MAC first team, while Kinsella was named to the second team for a third straight year, along with junior forward Alyssa Hile. High school teammates at Lafayette High in St. Louis, Johnson and Hile started at their respective positions in all 21 matches for the Bears this season. Johnson collected two assists while Hile had one assist.
Kinsella was the only Bear named to the Academic All-MAC Team. Ohio had four student-athletes on the team, while Kent State and Ball State each had two and Miami had one player on the 10-player team.
Head Coach Dawn Porter finished her 10th season at the helm of the Missouri State program and now holds a 72-121 overall record as head coach.
