Sept. 17, 1999
San Luis Obispo, Calif. - The Missouri Tiger women's soccer team stretched its consecutive win streak to six Friday night with a 3-1 victory over Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in the first round of the California Classic. The win improved MU to 6-1 overall, while Cal Poly dropped to 1-4.
Missouri got on the board first on a goal by junior Kristin Boeker, her second of the season. The score came after a Liz Passanise cross deflected off a Cal-Poly defender near the goal and bounced out to Boeker twenty yards from the net. The junior one-timed a rocket shot into the upper right-hand corner and MU led 1-0 at 39:15. Missouri held that advantage into halftime going to intermission with the lead for the fifth consecutive match.
Cal-Poly struck back with a score at 69:57 and the match was tied with twenty minutes to play. That's when the Tigers' relentless attack finally paid off. After getting the ball deep in Cal Poly territory, a clear shot by the defense did not make it past the twenty yard mark and after a couple of touches, MU's Mandy Pavlovits collected the loose ball. The senior dribbled past a defender, and then launched a shot the goalkeeper could not see due to her own defender screening her vision of the play. The shot cleared the defender and bounced off the goalkeeper's leg and in the net. The score was Pavlovits first as a Tiger and gave Missouri a 2-1 advantage at 75:12.
Missouri put the match away in the final minute when Sarah Sallee corraled a loose ball, dribbled past her defender, and placed a perfect ball to the center of the field, in front of Nikki Thole. The junior forward caught the pass, dribbled the ball ten yards and rifled a shot past the goalkeeper from ten yards out. At 89:23 MU had the match and a 3-1 lead. For Thole, who has now scored at least one point in every MU match this season, it was her team-leading eighth goal of the season, and 28th over the last 28 Tiger contests.
Missouri next plays Sunday, September 19, at 11am (Pacific Standard Time)when they face San Diego University, also 1-0 in the California Classic with a victory over Tulsa earlier Firday. The Tigers next play at home on Sunday, September 26 when they host Loyola-Chicago at 4pm.