SectionsBears in good position after victories
Weekend sweep locks up bye for GRLC?playoffs
Kai Raymer
Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: Sports
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Mission accomplished.
The Bears hammered divisional foes Washington-St Louis and Missouri Baptist Friday and Saturday, assuring Missouri State a first-round bye once the GRLC playoffs arrive.
"We did what we needed to do," said Missouri State team president Brad Shearman before practice Monday.
The first-round bye means Missouri State will need to win two games instead of three in the GRLC playoffs, where the winner earns an automatic bid to nationals in Denver.
"We have secured the first-round bye and that was one of our top goals for this season," Bears coach Austin Holman said.
Missouri State beat Washington-St. Louis 12-5 on Friday night before defeating Missouri Baptist 12-4 Saturday afternoon.
Dave Herber and Nick King scored four goals each for Missouri State against Wasington-St. Louis.
Against MBU, Shearman and King had three goals apiece, while Wheeler Compton and Mark Jasper added two.
King had scored 12 goals on the season coming into the weekend.
"The biggest thing was my shots were clicking," King said. "I was in a good rhythm, and my shots ended up being right on target."
The road factor helped, too.
"For some reason, I just play better on the road," King said. "Whenever you have fans from the other team yelling at you, it makes me play better."
In a routine that has become common for the Bears this season, Missouri State jumped out to big leads early in both games.
The Bears (7-1 overall, 3-0 GRLC) led 5-1 at halftime versus Washington-St. Louis and 5-0 against Missouri Baptist.
"We came out and jumped on top of them early," Holman said.
In their eight games this season, Missouri State has outscored its opponents 54-13 in the first half.
The only time the Bears have not led at halftime was their 11-7 loss to Harding (tied 4-4 at halftime), also their only loss of the season.
Missouri State's offensive dominance was backed up by a dominating performance from goalkeeper Mark Livesay.
"He came up with some brilliant saves," Shearman said.
Livesay, in his first-ever season as a goalie, made 17 of 22 saves Friday night and 19 of 23 against MBU.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Beckner
posted 4/07/09 @ 11:31 AM CST
I've enjoyed reading the extensive reporting on the lacrosse team. I did notice an error in this one though.... the only loss for the lax team was to Southwestern, not Harding. (Continued…)
Brian
posted 4/16/09 @ 9:48 AM CST
Yes, I've also enjoyed reading the coverage. As an alumni, I can say that I check the standard specifically for these articles. Thanks!
Richard, Donald
posted 4/17/09 @ 2:20 PM CST
I've also enjoyed reading the coverage
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