The Bears ended the 2008 season with a 7-10-5 record and a trip to the MVC Tournament championship match. The freshman-laden team worked hard to get on track early in the season and bounced back in conference play with a 3-1-1 record to secure the three seed in the Missouri Valley Tournament.
Non-conference play Missouri State started the season with a trip to the Drake Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa and came away with some solid defensive play, allowing only two goals in two matches and scoring a tie with Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Bears then returned home for the Missouri State Comfort Inn/Diadora Invitational, September 5-6. The young Bears continued to battle, but were unable to put the ball in the net against Cleveland State and Centenary College.
A trip to the New Mexico Nike Tournament turned the tide for the Bears. Facing two quality opponents, Missouri State beat eventual NCAA Tournament team Cal Poly, 2-1. With the tournament title on the line, the Bears then faced second-ranked Akron in the finals. A very physical match resulted in the Bears’ defense stepping up to help goalkeeper
Alex Riggs secure a 0-0 tie and the title.
Missouri State returned to Plaster Sports Complex for a matchup with Valparaiso on September 19.
Ryan Hennessy scored the equalizing goal late in the first half and the Bears defense held the Crusaders at bay in the second half to secure the 1-1 tie. Road losses to Memphis and NCAA qualifier Saint Louis, ended September for the Bears.
Missouri State next travelled to Peoria, Ill., to face Howard and Alabama A&M in the Bradley Tournament.
Heath Melugin scored in the fourth minute of play to help propel the Bears to a 2-0 win over Howard. In the finals, Riggs recorded 11 saves in a narrow loss to Alabama A&M.
On October 7, Central Arkansas visited Springfield as the Bears readied themselves for conference play. Melugin scored twice in a 2-1 win over UCA.
Conference play Missouri State played its best soccer during the conference portion of its schedule, and shocked the league after being picked to finish last in the preseason poll. The Bears began with a wild 3-2 conference-opening loss to No. 24 Drake.
Justin Alford and
David Buckenheimer added second half goals to even the score before the Bulldogs scored a late goal to steal the victory. Missouri State then travelled to Evansville to face the Purple Aces in a pivotal MVC match.
Alex Riggs recorded four saves and a 2-0 shutout to shake up the standings.
The Bears then returned home for a marquis match-up with No. 2-ranked Creighton on October 21. Riggs turned away a career-high 12 Bluejay shots to give the Bears a hard-fought 0-0 double overtime draw.
Missouri State turned around four days later and returned to Peoria, to face Bradley. Riggs again was phenomenal in recording his third-straight shutout, beating the Braves 2-0. The Bears then wrapped up the conference regular season schedule by hosting Eastern Illinois, and Riggs recorded his fourth shutout in conference play.
Nick Dryden scored a dramatic second half stoppage-time goal to give the Bears the 1-0 win.
The Bears finished conference play with a 3-1-1 record to earn the No. 3 seed in the MVC Tournament.
“The boys got better week-to-week and month-to-month,” stated head coach
Jon Leamy. “It took some time to sort things out with a very young team and find our roles, but we were playing our best soccer at the end of the season, and that is what we want to do.”
Quality opponents abound Missouri State faced seven eventual NCAA Tournament teams during the 2008 campaign. The Bears secured a 2-1 win over Cal Poly and draws against Akron and Creighton.
Amid conference play, the Bears travelled to UMKC to face the Kangaroos. An evenly played match saw UMKC score a second-half goal a prevail 1-0. The final regular season match saw Tulsa visit Plaster Sports Complex. The Bears kept the Hurricanes at bay most of the match, but Tulsa scored in the final minute as the Bears fell in a heartbreaker on Senior Night.
MVC Tournament In Evansville, the Bears faced Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the MVC Tournament on November 12. MSU had previously defeated the Panthers 1-0 at home on November 1. In the opening-round win, Missouri State scored a season-high four goals, including two by senior Alford, in the 4-1 victory over EIU to advance to the semifinals against second-seeded Drake.
The Bears got revenge for their lone conference loss when they played No. 22 Drake to a 1-1 tie in the semifinals on November 14. MSU went on to defeat the Bulldogs 4-1 on penalty kicks to advance to the Championship against the top seed Creighton two days later.
In the finals, Missouri State had several good scoring opportunities early, but was unable to capitalize on them. Creighton went up 1-0 on a misplayed corner kick in the 28th minute of the first half. The ball snuck through the Bears’ defense to Creighton’s Ethan Finlay, who misjudged the ball nicking it with his thigh on his attempt. The ball then bounced off of a Bears defender who knocked it by a well-positioned Riggs to give Creighton the 1-0 advantage. The second half was steadily controlled by Creighton’s ball handling ability. The Bears had several chances late, but couldn’t get one by the Bluejays’ keeper as Creighton held on for the win over MSU.
MVC in the NCAA Tournament
Creighton received the automatic NCAA bid and Drake, an at-large bid. The Bulldogs were defeated by Saint Louis in the opening round, 1-0. After a first round bye, Creighton defeated No. 6 Tulsa, 2-1, and No. 22 Connecticut, 2-1 in overtime. The Bluejays’ postseason run came to an end against eventual NCAA champion Maryland with a 1-0 loss to the Terrapins in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
“Creighton did well in the NCAA tournament, and I think that really speaks to how strong the conference is and how well our team played,” said Leamy.
Awards and Accolades Several Bears received recognition for their excellent performance on and off the field in 2008. Sophomore goalkeeper Riggs led the way in his first season as the Bears’ full-time goalkeeper. In three straight conference games from October 15-25 (Evansville, Creighton, Bradley), Riggs didn’t allow a goal and recorded 20 saves to earn MVC Defensive Player of the Week in consecutive weeks. He was the only player in the conference to earn the honor in consecutive weeks.
“Riggs had such a consistent season,” stated Leamy. “Alex had a number of highs and few lows, so we always knew we were going to get solid net play.”
Riggs finished the conference season with 30 saves, a .909 save percentage, allowed just three goals, had four shutouts, and a 0.60 goals against average, earning him first-team All-MVC honors. He finished first in every defensive category in the conference and was No. 24 nationally in saves per game (5.19) and No. 26 in save percentage (.832).
Riggs was joined on the first-team All-MVC by senior Alford, who started all five conference games for the Bears, scoring one goal against Drake, and had a .071 shot percentage in conference play. Aside from his statistical contributions, Alford provided key offensive pressure throughout the season.
Johannes Demarzi earned second-team All-MVC honors contributing five starts, one goal, one assist and 10 shots in conference play. Demarzi also earned accolades in the classroom as he was named first-team MVC-Scholar Athlete with a 3.42 GPA in political science.
The Bears also had two players earn MVC All-Freshmen team honors. Midfielder Gerard Barbero contributed four starts, two assists, a .333 shooting percentage and the unassisted game-winning goal against Evansville. He was joined by forward Melugin, who was one of five Bears with three goals on the season.
