Head Coach Rob Brewer led his Missouri State women's soccer team (10-6-3, 4-1-1) to its second consecutive runner-up finish in the MVC and into overtime of the MVC Tournament finals.  The young squad came just inches from the title in both cases and with just three seniors, the future looks bright for the team.

"The team did an excellent job of being prepared for every match this season," said Brewer.  "Coming into the season, we thought if we play well on defense, we are going to be in every match.  The team's willingness to play good defense had us in every match this year."

Regular Season
The Bears began the season with a match under sweltering conditions at North Texas on Aug. 22.  Freshman Brooke Williams wasted little time making an impression on the team, tallying her first career goal in just the second minute of play, the earliest a goal has ever been scored in an MSU career.  The Mean Green rallied late, though, and downed the Bears, 2-1.

Missouri State began its home slate five days later with a visit from UALR.  Another freshman, Tiffany Laughlin, scored twice, and the Bears racked up 23 shots in a 3-0 shutout of the Trojans.  

"Our young players made significant contributions to our team on offense all season long," stated Brewer.  "To get as close as we did this year (to a title) with such a young team speaks well for the future of the program."

UT Martin wrapped up the brief homestand on Aug. 29 and Jessica Teahan turned aside six shots on goal for the second consecutive shutout by the Bears.  Rachel Weimer and Brooke Williams each tallied their second goal of the year in the 2-0 victory.

Missouri State headed to Tulsa, Okla., to face Oral Roberts and Tulsa on Sept. 3 and 5, respectively.  The Bears recorded three goals and got a fourth on an ORU own goal in a 4-0 win and the third straight shutout in the victory over Oral Roberts.   

The Golden Hurricane got two goals early in the second half and the Bears were only able to get a goal from junior Tara Bailes in a 2-1 defeat to Tulsa.  Sophomore Nia Williams would earn MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording two assists on the weekend.

MSU returned home on Sept. 10 for a showdown with Oklahoma.  Laughlin scored her fourth goal of the year and the Bears got an own goal from the Sooners to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.  Bailes notched her second goal in as many matches in the 67th minute and propelled the Bears to a 3-2 victory.

Two days later, Arkansas visited Plaster Field.  Junior Logan Bisbee buried a header in the final minute of the first half to draw the Bears even at 1-1.  The teams would remain tied and headed to overtime, when a controversial call allowed the Razorbacks to get the winning goal in the 93rd minute.

On Sept. 17, the Bears embarked on a four-game road trip, the longest of the season.  The first stop was in St. Louis for a match with the in-state rival Billikens.  Teahan made six saves and the two squads played to a scoreless draw for the third consecutive meeting.  

Two days later, MSU was in Lawrence, Kan., to face the Jayhawks.  The Bears' offense was held off the board for the second-straight game and Kansas defeated Missouri State, 2-0.

MSU kicked off conference play at UNI on Sept. 24.  Freshman Katelyn Frederickson assisted on goals by Michelle Sommer and Brooke Williams to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.  Missouri State held on for a 2-1 victory and moved the Bears' record to 5-0-0 since 2000 when opening conference play against the Panthers.

Missouri State wrapped up the road trip with a stop at UMKC.  After falling behind 1-0 in the first half, Brooke Williams tallied her fifth goal of the season to draw the score even at 1-1.  Then in overtime, Sommer scored in the 100th minute to lift the Bears to a 2-1 OT win.

The Bears kicked off October by hosting conference-foe Indiana State.  The match was even throughout, but sophomore Grace Cross scored the game-winner for MSU with just six seconds left in the match.  Teahan made five saves for the Bears' fifth shutout of the year in the 1-0 win.

Two days later, SIU Edwardsville visited Plaster Field.  Senior defender Jordan Reppell scored her first career goal, the game-winner, in the 80th minute.  Sophomore Chelsea Voet played the final 31 minutes and made four saves to earn the win in the 1-0 victory.  Reppell would earn MVC Defensive Player of the Week accolades.

The Bears set out on the final road trip of the season with a visit to Illinois State on Oct. 10.  Teahan made six saves and recorded the third-straight shutout for MSU in the 0-0 double overtime draw with the Redbirds.

The next week, Missouri State played its final regular season road match at Drake.  Despite outshooting the Bulldogs 16 to 12, Drake got two second half goals to beat the Bears, 2-0.

On Oct. 22, the Bears returned to Plaster Field for a showdown with first place Creighton.  The Bluejays came in with a chance to clinch the regular season title.  CU took the early lead, but senior Sarah Linsin knotted the score at 1-1 in the final minute before halftime.  The teams headed to overtime and in the 94th minute, Sommer headed in the game-winner to keep the Bears' title hopes alive.  Linsin was named MVC Defensive Player of the Week for her play.

Missouri State ended the regular season hosting Evansville with a chance to win a share of the regular season MVC title.  The Bears outshot the Purple Aces 23 to two and got a late goal from Laughlin to do their part.  In Omaha, Illinois State hit the crossbar in overtime and Creighton countered with the game-winning goal in OT to beat the Redbirds and leave the Bears as runners-up and the second seed.

"I feel very positive about the way we played in conference this year," continued Brewer.  "For the second year in a row, we were the only team to beat the eventual champion."

MVC Tournament
The Bears headed to Omaha, Neb., as the No. 2 seed and faced Illinois State in the MVC Tournament semifinals on Nov. 5.  Brooke Williams scored in the 22nd minute off of an assist from Michelle Sommer to give the Bears the early lead.  In the second half, Illinois State drew even after a scramble in front of Jessica Teahan resulted in a Jessica Carlson goal.

But 110 minutes was not enough to decide the winner.  The teams went to a shootout, where Teahan continued her stellar day.  She stopped the first three Redbird shooters.  In the fifth round with Illinois State needing to convert to stay alive, she made yet another save to propel the Bears to the MVC Championship match.  

On the day, Teahan made a career-high 11 saves, not including the four in the shootout.  Michelle Sommer and Nia Williams converted in the shootout to give MSU the win, 2-1 on PK's.

Missouri State faced host Creighton on Nov. 7, with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line.  The first shot of the match by Tara Bailes richoted off the crossbar and away.  The Bears recorded the first four shots in the match, but the Bluejays were able to get on the board first with a goal in the 25th minute.  

The Bears kept on the pressure registering four of the first six shots in the second half.  In the 74th minute, the match would take on a new perspective.  Freshman Ashley Washburn scored her first collegiate goal after she received a feed from Nia Williams.  Washburn drilled a bending shot into the upper left corner of the net to bring the match all-square at a goal apiece.

Once again, Missouri State would head to overtime to decide a match.  In the 98th minute, MSU was called for a penalty in the box and Creighton was awarded a penalty kick.  Erin Gunther converted for the Bluejays and ended the Bears' season.

"The team battled hard throughout the MVC Tournament," added Brewer.  "You always want to win the championship, but I am happy that we got so close to the title."

Jordan Reppell, Jessica Teahan and Nia Williams were named to the MVC All-Tournament team.

Awards
Reppell headlined the postseason awards list for Missouri State.  She was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Year and received an All-MVC first team nod.  She became just the fourth Bear to earn all-conference accolades in all four years of her career.  She also earned NSCAA/Performance Subaru All-Great Lakes Region first team honors.  Off the field, she was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District VII second team and an Academic All-MVC first team selection.

"Jordan (Reppell) has been outstanding for us all four years," Brewer stated.  "It is a special honor to be named to the All-Region first team and the MVC Defensive Player of the Year.  The regional award matches the highest award achieved by one of our players."

Teahan was named to her second-straight All-MVC first team.  She was also an Academic All-MVC first team honorees for the second consecutive season.  She too was named a CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District VII second teamer.

Grace Cross and Nia Williams were named to the All-MVC second team.  Both were also Academic All-MVC honorable mention selections.  Michelle Sommer joined them on the Academic All-MVC honorable mention team.

Freshman Brooke Williams earned All-MVC honorable mention accolades.  She was named to the MVC All-Freshman team as well.