Men's Soccer Notes: Bulldogs to Open GLVC Play

Truman Men's Soccer Weekly Notes (Matches 3-4)
Full Notes (PDF)

Match 3:
Truman (2-0, 0-0 GLVC) vs. Maryville (0-1, 0-0 GLVC)
Date: Friday, September 13 (3:30 PM)
Live Stats: http://gobulldogs.truman.edu/livestats/soccer/xlive.htm
Series Record: Truman leads, 5-3
Last Meeting: Truman won, 7-0, on October 1, 2010 (Kirksville, Mo.)

Match 4:
Truman at Missouri-St. Louis (1-1, 0-0 GLVC)
Date: Sunday, September 15 (2:30 PM)
Live Stats: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60384776/xlive.htm
Series Record: Truman leads, 16-14-5.
Last Meeting: Truman won, 4-1, on October 7, 2010 (St. Louis, Mo.)

Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || #TSUGameDay || @TrumanMSoccer

Opening Kickoff:
With 15 goals through two non-conference matches to start the 2013 season, the Truman men's soccer team looks to carry its early-season momentum into GLVC play when the 'Dogs face Maryville (Mo.) and Missouri-St. Louis this Friday and Sunday.

Truman (2-0) is just one of three squads to have earned two victories through the opening weekend of play and will enter conference play as a member of the GLVC for the first time when Maryville visits Kirksville for a 3:30 kickoff this Friday afternoon. The Bulldogs will then turn around and head to St. Louis to take on Missouri-St. Louis at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon to complete the weekend against in-state rivals.

The Bulldogs got out to one of the fastest starts in school history, netting 11 goals and setting a new program record with 13 assists against NCAA-III program Iowa Wesleyan on Friday, Sept. 6. From there, Truman kept its foot on the gas, blazing past Upper Iowa with a 4-1 victory on Sunday, Sept. 8.

The NCAA has yet to release official statistics for the season, but the Bulldogs trumped nearly every offensive category in the first set of GLVC rankings, while also having posted a 0.50 goals-against average in net with the lone goal coming via penalty kick late against UIU. The team's +14 goal differential is more than double the second-best mark (Drury, McKendree and Southern Indiana are all +6), while individually, the Bulldogs hold four of the top seven points marks in the league. Austin Hayden paces all GLVC players with seven points (three goals, one assist), while Nick Tolmais, Chris Mansfield and Zach Hollstrom have each recorded five points apiece.

Maryville visits Truman having sat idle through the first weekend; however, the Saints opened their 2013 campaign with a 2-0 loss to Lindenwood on Tuesday night. UMSL, meanwhile, fell 2-1 to Lindenwood on Sept. 7 before rebounding with a 2-0 win against Southwest Baptist on Sept. 8.

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-match 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.

Record That Record:
Friday's 11-0 win against Iowa Wesleyan provided the Bulldogs the opportunity to etch their names into program history, as Truman's 13 assists in the contest broke the previous record of 10 – set three different times, but most recently in 1999.

Fast Start for Bulldogs:
For just the second time under head coach Duke Cochran, the Bulldogs opened the regular season with a 2-0 record, having matched the 2008 squad that began with a pair of five-goal games.

All-time, Truman has started 2-0 just 12 times in 35 seasons of men's soccer at the University, with this year's squad looking to become just the sixth to start a season with a 4-0 mark.

'Dogs Picked 12th in Opening GLVC Campaign:
The Bulldogs were picked to finish 12th in its first season of Great Lakes Valley Conference action, as announced on August 22nd by the league office.

The Bulldogs earned 79 points to come in 10 points behind 11th-place Missouri S&T and 19 points ahead of 13th-place UW-Parkside. Defending conference champion Rockhurst took home 14 of 15 possible first-place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) to lead the poll, followed by Drury (200), Quincy (195; one first-place vote), Bellarmine (175) and Lewis (149) to round out the top-five.

A total of 21 of the 33 GLVC standouts to earn All-Conference recognition last season return in 2013, including seven first-team selections.

Home, Sweet Home:
The Bulldogs will play 11 of their 18 matches this season at the Bulldog Soccer Pitch, having been scheduled eight of 15 GLVC contests as well as adding all three non-conference tilts on the home schedule.

New League Awaits Truman in 2013:
After floating for 34 years between MIAA and Independent status, the Truman men's soccer team finally has a place to truly call "home", as the Bulldogs begin play as a Great Lakes Valley Conference member in the 2013 season.

Like the Truman men's soccer program, the Great Lakes Valley Conference began its sponsorship of men's soccer in the 1979 season, marking 2013 as the 35th year of competition for the league. The league has put a total of 35 teams into the NCAA Div. II tournament, with its lone national championship coming via former member Northern Kentucky in the 2010 season. The GLVC has landed at least one team into the national tournament each of the past 16 seasons dating back to 1997 and has sent a team to the national quarterfinals in every year since 1999 excluding 2003 and 2012.

The Bulldogs have a substantial history against current GLVC opponents, having compiled a 119-77-21 (.597) record against the other 15 current league programs. Truman has the most history with former MIAA members Missouri S&T (22-9-5) and Missouri-St. Louis (16-14-5), while having also topped the 20-match mark against Rockhurst (12-15-1), Lewis (10-12-1) and Quincy (12-6-4).

All GLVC teams will play 15 league matches in a single round-robin format, with the overall top team by percentage at the end of the season earning champion status. The top eight teams qualify for the conference tournament, with the top four seeds earning a home quarterfinal match on Sunday, November 3. The four advancing teams then travel to the top remaining seed for the conference semifinals and championship the following weekend, with the league's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament handed out on Sunday, November 10.

The Bulldogs now compete in the Midwest region, with the GLVC, GLIAC and Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) combining to compete for regional bids. No automatic bids for conference champions are awarded in men's soccer, with the Midwest region set to receive five bids in 2013.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs continue their early stretch of home contests next Friday and Sunday by welcoming Lewis (Ill.) and Wisconsin-Parkside to Kirksville. Lewis and Truman will tangle on Friday, Sept. 20 at 3:30 pm before the Bulldogs and Rangers close out the weekend on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 2:30 pm.

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