KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) action opens for Volleyball; Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, and Women's Golf all take to the road; and Football returns home for Truman State University's annual Family Day in This Week in Truman State Athletics for Sept. 23-29.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Kansas City Cup
William Jewell (Mo.) College
Paradise Pointe Golf Complex
8 a.m. // Sept. 23-24 // Smithville, Mo.
Bulldog Women's Golf continues its fall season at the Kansas City Cup this weekend. The squad opened play at the William Penn Statesmen Invitational Sept. 9-10 in Osklaloosa, Iowa, placing third overall.
Kylie Secrest finished runner-up in the first action of her collegiate career on rounds of 76 and 74. Ana Gonzalez and Reese Stovall tied for 12th position as the other two Bulldogs finishing in the top 20.
Stovall turned in the best round of her career in the Purple and White at the Kansas City Cup one year ago - finishing with a two-day total of 156 - behind a three-over par 74 on day two.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
vs. Illinois College
Truman Tennis Courts
4 p.m. // Sept. 24 // Kirksville, Mo.
The 4-1 Women's Tennis Team plays host to Illinois College Tuesday at the Truman Tennis Courts. The Lady Blues, 8-4 on the season, have won three straight against Southwestern Illinois College, Elmhurst (Ill.) University, and Concordia University Chicago.
The Bulldogs opened the fall season with four consecutive victories but were dealt their first loss, 4-3, against Missouri Baptist University Sept. 20 in Kirksville. Finley Laforge and Amelia Willing won number three, 6-3, after opening down 3-0, to knot the score at 3. Number two Akansha Negi and Abbi Worster had a late lead, 5-4, but fell 7-4 in the tie-break.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
1-3-2 overall, 0-2-1 GLVC
@ Upper Iowa University (1-2-1 overall, 1-1 GLVC)
5 p.m. // Sept. 27 // Fayette, Iowa
@Lewis (Ill.) University (0-4-1 overall, 0-2 GLVC)
12 p.m. // Sept. 29 // Romeoville, Ill.
The Truman State Women's Soccer team looks to pick up its first GLVC win of the season on the road against Upper Iowa and Lewis after playing to a tough 2-1 loss against 18th-ranked McKendree (Ill.) University Sept. 22.
A header from Jessica Kozol, assisted by Aubrey Kaupas, pulled the Bulldogs into a 1-1 tie in the 48th minute, but the Bearcats took the lead for good on a goal from Lena Higgins.
The Upper Iowa Peacocks took down Lewis University, a Sept. 20 2-1 win in Romeoville, Ill., but dropped a 1-0 match to UIndy Sunday at home. Junior keeper Isabelle Wagner and the Peacock defense kept the Greyhounds off the scoreboard until the 76th minute, behind four saves by Wagner, but UIndy's Stephanie Brady tallied the lone goal to deal UIU its first GLVC loss of the season.
Lewis junior forward Breanna Culver netted her second goal of the year in the Flyers' 2-1 loss to UIU while a tying shot from fifth-year midfielder Elisa Aguilar was turned away with less than one minute to play.
Kaupas continues to pace Truman State scoring in goals and assists with two each, while Kozol, Lia Quintero, and Emma Thompson have all notched one goal on the season with senior keeper Tatumn Damron saving 30 shots against six goals allowed.
Truman State owns a 3-0-1 all-time lead against UIU, with the lone tie a 1-1 affair in Kirksville one year ago, and have outscored the Peacocks 8-2 in the series. Lewis and the 'Dogs have split the previous four contests with the 10-10-4 series record dating back to 1986.
MEN'S SOCCER
1-3-1 overall, 0-2-1 GLVC
@ Upper Iowa University (0-3-2 overall, 0-1-1 GLVC)
7:30 p.m. // Sept. 27 // Fayette, Iowa
@Lewis (Ill.) University (0-1-5 overall, 0-0-2 GLVC)
2:30 p.m. // Sept. 29 // Romeoville, Ill.
The Bulldog Men's Soccer team looks to pick up its first conference victory of the season following a match in which they fought the 5-0, #7 McKendree Bearcats to a scoreless tie.
"[The tie] is the silver lining," said Truman State Head Coach Duke Cochran regarding the McKendree result. "We were going up against the top team in the league to see if we could hold them to zeroes and can keep them off the board."
The Bulldog defensive strategy held a McKendree offense and its 15 goals on the season to four shots total. Senior keeper Justin Olwig recorded the saves en route to the draw during the rain-soaked match at Stokes Stadium in Kirksville.
UIU remains winless in '24 after a Sept. 20 1-1 draw at Lewis and 1-0 shutout to UIndy in Fayette Sept. 22. The Peacocks came out firing against Lewis with shots from juniors Mateo Rodriguez and Emir Basar in the first four minutes of action before fifth year Thomas Walle's score put UIU up 1-0 fewer than ten minutes into play.
"They work hard, work fast, very physical," Cochran said of Lewis, to which GLVC coaches gave the nod as the number one team in the conference preseason poll. "But they have a lot of new players to field, and when that happens, there are going to be growing pains."
The Bulldogs hold an all-time series record of 11-3-1 against UIU, winners of a 4-0 2023 match in Kirksville, while Lewis holds a commanding 11-21-3 edge in the series dating back to 1987.
FOOTBALL
0-3 overall, 0-0 GLVC
vs. Wayne State (Mich.) University (0-3 overall, 0-0 conference)
Stokes Stadium
1 p.m. // Sept. 28 // Kirksville, Mo.
The Bulldog Football team looks to end its three-game losing streak as non-conference play ends at home against Wayne State (Mich.) University.
Last week's game at Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.), a Cardinal 37-14 victory, saw the Bulldogs give up a 32-yard fumble recovery five minutes into the first quarter from which the Purple and White could never quite recover. A Denim Cook 4-yard scamper brought the Bulldogs to within two, 14-16, with five minutes to play in the third before back-to-back SVSU scores, including a Mason McKenzie 84-yard touchdown on a quarterback rush, put away the game.
Wayne State mustered only two field goals in a 30-6 loss to UIndy Sept. 21. The Greyhounds got out to a commanding 19-0 lead with four minutes to play in the second quarter, chewing almost 15 minutes off the clock and consuming nearly 300 yards, before Wayne State got on the board with a 46-yard field goal inside the two-minute timeout.
Truman State's 5-2 series lead against Wayne State includes a 41-7 Bulldog win in Detroit one year ago. Wayne State could only gain 143 yards total offense with Truman State dominating the rushing game 228 yards to 25 yards.
Cook's 4.3 yards per carry leads the team in 2024 while Jackson Overton's 15 receptions for 206 yards and three scores sets the pace within the receiving corp. Dylan Hair, 54-108 and four scores through the air, averages 226 yards per game passing.
Volleyball
0-12 overall, 0-0 GLVC
@ Upper Iowa University (5-6 overall, 0-0 GLVC)
3 p.m. // Sept. 28 // Fayette, Iowa
Bulldog Volleyball heads to Fayette, Iowa, opening GLVC play against Upper Iowa while on the hunt for its first victory of the year.
Truman State - 0-4 in each of the three 2024 tourneys to date - have gone five sets against their opponents seven times including three of four matches this past weekend. Upper Iowa fell 3-0 at home against Winona State (Minn.) University.
The Bulldogs dropped a 3-2 affair to UIU in Pershing Arena despite taking a 2-1 match lead into Set 4 one year ago.
Freshman outside hitter Michaela Goad tops Truman State with 147 kills while sophomore setter Tori Creason leads the team with 21 service aces. Defensively, redshirt middle blocker Makayla Way has recorded 42 blocks while senior setter Emma Baierl and Creason have 133 and 131 digs, respectively.
