Nelson, Bears Hit the Road to Open Season at Missouri

On the Pitch

• The Missouri State Bears begin their 2024 campaign with a visit to Missouri. MoState will take on the Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15.
• Despite only being a few hours away from each other, the two schools have only met in women’s soccer four times in their history. Most recently, the Tigers beat the Bears 2-0 for MoState’s only loss of the regular season in 2023. Missouri State’s only win over Missouri came on Sep. 19, 1996 when the Bears beat the Tigers 2-0 at Missouri in the Bears’ sixth game of their inaugural season.
• MoState was picked to finish first in the MVC preseason poll for the second year in a row with seven first place votes and 116 points.
• The Bears are coming off of a record-breaking season. In 2023, MoState went 12-2-5 with a 7-0-3 record in conference play. The team had its highest-ever winning percentage at .763 overall and .850 in the MVC.
• The Bears’ defense broke five season records last year with fewest goals allowed (8), fewest saves (57), most road wins (6), most shutouts (13) and most consecutive shutouts (8).
• Missouri State was named the NCAA Statistical Champion in shutout percentage (.684) with 13 clean sheets in a 19-game season.
• Goalkeeper Camielle Day was also named an NCAA Statistical Champion for a goals against average of .452 (eight goals in 1,593 minutes played).
• Eighteen letterwinners return for MoState. The Bears welcome two transfers (Cazzi Norgren, Campbell and Lily Patterson, Kansas State) along with six freshmen (Maggie O’Keefe, Jane Hansen, Brianna Kappeler, Kendall Petoskey, Isla Theakstone and Victoria Spahn).
• Head coach Kirk Nelson enters his third season leading the Bears. In his two years at the helm, he has led the team to an MVC tournament championship (2022) and the team’s best winning percentage (.763, 2023).