Men's Soccer Week 8 Notes: vs. #23 LWU | vs. SBU

Weekly Schedule:
Friday, Oct. 19 – vs. #23 Lindenwood – 2:00 pm – Kirksville, Mo.
Live Stats

Sunday, Oct. 21 – vs. Southwest Baptist – 2:00 pm – Kirksville, Mo.
Live Stats

PDF Notes
Twitter | @TrumanMSoccer

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - - For the third straight week, the Truman men's soccer team will have a top-25 opponent visit the Bulldog Soccer Park, as the Bulldogs welcome 23^rd-ranked Lindenwood on Friday afternoon at 2pm. Truman closes the weekend with a 2pm match on Sunday against Southwest Baptist.

The Bulldogs (8-4-1, 5-1-1 MIAA) are winners of three straight matches with three to play in the 2012 regular season. Truman used a late penalty kick to slip past then-No. 17 Fort Hays State on Thursday before cruising past Southern Nazarene with a 3-0 shutout on Saturday for a pair of MIAA wins.

This week's slate of opponents features a pair of teams Truman has faced once each already this season, having picked up a 2-2 draw at Lindenwood on Sept. 20 before defeating SBU 2-0 in Bolivar on Sept. 22. The LWU Lions enter as the current MIAA leaders and holding a No. 23 ranking in the NSCAA top-25, while Truman received votes for the first time this season.

Truman now has a +6 goal differential on the season (+5 in MIAA-only matches) after earning six league points last week with two wins. Senior Andy Chapman continues to lead the offense with nine goals and 20 points, while fellow senior Charlie Backus ranks second in the nation with 11 assists. MIAA player of the week Tony Luedecke has added five goals, with defender Matt Langley chipping in four goals and an assist.

The goalkeeping duties have been handed off mainly full-time to Drew Garrone as of late, with the sophomore posting a 1.74 goals-against average and a 75.9% save mark in 11 games.

Duke Cochran is in his eighth season at the helm of the Bulldog men's soccer program and has a career record of 79-49-12. His full bio is available either online at TrumanBulldogs.com or in the full PDF weekly notes.

Weekly Recap with Coach Cochran:
To watch this week's weekly recap with coach Duke Cochran, click the video link below. If the video is not appearing, please access the full weekly notes at TrumanBulldogs.com.

Following the Bulldogs:
Full coverage of Truman men's soccer is available online at TrumanBulldogs.com, including results, upcoming match information and weekly updates.

When available, links to free online live stats are added to the Bulldog men's soccer schedule page as well as the top of each weekly update.

Keep up with the Bulldogs by tracking in-game updates (when available). Follow Truman Athletics on Twitter (@TrumanAthletics). Also be sure to sign up for Text Caster and Newsletter updates on the TrumanBulldogs.com homepage.

Conference/Regional Outlook:
Wednesday marks the first all-important release of the NCAA's official regional rankings, as the first of three published weekly rankings hits NCAA.com for all eight of the nation's regions. That release will be posted at TrumanBulldogs.com on late Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the MIAA tournament could be set as early as Thursday, depending on results from around the league. With each team having three MIAA matches to play, Lindenwood currently sits atop the conference with 17 points, followed closely by Truman and Northeastern State – both at 16 points. Fort Hays State is one point behind the Nos. 2 and 3 spots with 15 points.

Harding leads the second half of the conference with seven points, followed by Upper Iowa (six), Southern Nazarene (three) and Southwest Baptist (one).

At the conclusion of the regular season, the top four teams will head to Olathe, Kan., for the MIAA semifinals and championship on Nov. 1 and 3.

The eight MIAA teams are joined by Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) in comprising the NCAA Div. II Central region, with the top two teams in the region following the MIAA tournament qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

Lindenwood, still in provisional NCAA Div. II qualifying, is ineligible for NCAA postseason competition this season but can still compete in the MIAA postseason tournament due to no automatic berths to the NCAA tournament in men's soccer.

Luedecke Earns Conference Accolades:
Sophomore forward Tony Luedecke was named the MIAA Men's Soccer Athlete of the Week for week seven of the 2012 season. His award marks the second straight week and third time overall a Bulldog player has earned the league's weekly honor.

Luedecke scored a pair of game-winning goals as Truman posted a perfect 2-0 record last week, defeating then-No. 17 Fort Hays State 2-1 before shutting out Southern Nazarene 3-0. Against the Tigers, he converted a penalty kick in the 85^th minute to give the Bulldogs the win. Then, on Saturday, he got the Bulldogs on the board in the 13^th minute, taking a pass from Andy Chapman to put Truman ahead 1-0 en route to a 3-0 victory.

It marks the first MIAA award of Luedecke's career, following a pair of AOW awards for Chapman earlier this season. He has scored five goals this season, ranking second on the squad.

Senior Day Celebration on Sunday:
The Bulldogs will recognize four seniors who will be playing their final regular season home match on Sunday afternoon for the men's soccer program prior to the kickoff against SBU. Andy Chapman, Charlie Backus, Kyle Menges and Mike Kane have combined to play in 173 matches, scoring 33 goals, adding 26 assists and helping guide the Bulldogs to 36 wins in the past four seasons.

Checking Out the Competition:
#23 Lindenwood “Lions” (8-2-3, 5-0-2 MIAA)
The 23^rd-ranked Lions have found mixed results in their past three outings, earning a loss, a draw and a win in their last three matches, but still remain one point clear in the MIAA standings of Truman and NSU. Lindenwood is 3-2 away from St. Charles this season.

The strength of the Lions is in its defense, having allowed just nine goals in 13 matches in 2012. The team has a +11 goal differential, led by Andre Hayne's and Azeem Razwan's three goals each. Fermin Hughes has been the team's main keeper this season, recording six shutouts and posting a GAA of 0.68.

Truman and Lindenwood will meet for the 10^th time on Friday, with LWU holding a 6-3 all-time lead. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Lions clawed back for a 2-2 draw at home.

Carl Hutter is in his 19^th season at the helm of the LWU program, having compiled a record of 269-110-26. He is in his 30^th season as a collegiate head coach.

Southwest Baptist “Bearcats” (2-10-1, 0-6-1 MIAA)
Similar to LWU, SBU has gone 1-1-1 in its last three matches, earning a draw against Harding for its first league point on Oct. 11 before falling 5-0 to Northeastern State on Oct. 13. The Bearcats are 0-5 away from Bolivar this season.

The Bearcats have a -38 goal differential, having surrendered 50 goals this season (3.78/game) while scoring just 12 of their own (0.91/game). Jumping on the Bearcats early has been the key this season, as SBU has been out-scored 21-1 in the first 45 minutes of games this year.

Kaleb Romero (4 goals) and Karl Dupont (3 goals, 4 assists) have been the top offensive weapons, while Austin Haywood has a 4.30 GAA in 900 minutes in goal.

Truman leads the all-time series 10-0, having won 2-0 at SBU earlier this season. Chris Dinwiddie is in his first season as a collegiate head coach.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will close the 2012 regular season with one match next week, hosting Upper Iowa on Friday, Oct. 26 at 3:00 pm. From there, the team will look to qualify for the MIAA tournament, to be held Nov. 1-3 in Olathe, Kansas.

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