Welcome to the club
MU soccer team wins at Show-Me Games
Nick King photo
Zach Debord, left, of the Mizzou Men’s Soccer Club, battles for the ball
with the Yellowjackets’ Brett Loving yesterday during the Show-Me State Games.
By Dave Matter of the Columbia Daily Tribune. Published Saturday, August 4th, 2007.
Kurt Austin envisions a day when Big 12 Conference schools will offer men’s soccer as a varsity scholarship sport. The senior journalism major at Missouri has gotten involved in a campaign to see that it happens, though not with much hope that change will come soon.
"It’s going to be an uphill climb and probably take many years," said Austin, the president of the Mizzou Men’s Soccer Club. "It’s the nature of the sport, the Title IX implications and some money issues. But I think all Big 12 schools could be instantly competitive."
Austin’s team was more than competitive in yesterday’s first round of the Show-Me State Games men’s open division at Cosmo Park. Shane Rasch’s late goal was the difference in Mizzou’s 2-1 victory over the Yellowjackets, a team made up of scholarship players from Graceland University, an NAIA school in Lamoni, Iowa.
Playing in the Show-Me Games for the second straight summer, the MU club team is using the weekend tournament to tune up for its regular season. Tryouts for the university sanctioned, non-scholarship team will be later this month.
"This is kind of our preseason," said Austin, a midfielder from Independence. "It’s just a chance to get back in game shape. A 4 o’clock game in 90-degree heat as your first game back is pretty tough. It kind of opened our eyes that we have a lot of work to do before the season starts."
Since it was established in 2005, the MU club team has gone largely unnoticed locally but has been a hit on the field. In two seasons, the team has gone 28-4-3, twice won the Mid-America Collegiate Soccer League and advanced to the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association national championships. MU’s league is made up of other club teams from Washington University, Saint Louis University, Central Missouri and St. Charles Community College.
MU won its pool at the national tournament last November in Tempe, Ariz., then lost 3-0 to eventual champion Michigan in the first round of elimination play. This year’s national tournament is in Pensacola, Fla.
Rather than hire a designated coach, the players elect officers, like Austin, who handle administrative and coaching duties. Each player pays an annual $75 fee that goes toward travel, equipment and field reservations. Austin said the club recently bought its first pair of soccer goals for its weekly practices at Hinkson Field.
The roster is made up some Division II and III transfers, several players from the St. Louis area, plus two local products, Rock Bridge graduate Brandon Butcher and Hickman’s Daniel Weagley. The team isn’t allowed to recruit potential players, but Austin said there are plenty of skilled MU students to choose from each year.
MU fell behind 1-0 yesterday on a Yellowjackets goal just before halftime. Midway through the second half, Zach Debord pocketed a penalty kick to tie the score. Then, with four minutes left, Paul Eschen stole a pass near MU’s goal, dribbled the length of the field and slipped a perfect pass to Rasch, who poked in an easy game-winning goal.
The competition was as intense as the afternoon heat, a fact that didn’t surprise Austin, who led the MU club team to a second-place showing in the Show-Me Games last summer.
"A couple years ago," he said, "I heard someone out here yelling at one of the refs: ‘This is our World Cup. Don’t blow it for us.’ That’s great. People are taking this seriously."
The same MU contingent playing in the Show-Me Games will start practice for the club team when classes begin in two weeks. Austin expects another strong season.
"I think it’ll be the most successful team we’ve had since we established the club two years ago," he said. "Hopefully, this year we can go a little bit deeper in the" national "tournament than we have before."