COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou soccer returns to the newly-renovated Audrey J. Walton Stadium as it takes on in-state foe Saint Louis for its 2026 home opener on Thursday, August 20, at 4:30 p.m. 

The series dates to the inaugural season of Mizzou soccer. The programs met in each of the Tigers’ first three seasons, then didn’t face off again until 2024, and have met in each of the three years since.

PRE-MATCH PRESS
-Saint Louis went 14-4-2 in 2025 with a No. 34 final RPI under 14th-year head coach Katie Shields. The Billikens opened 2026 with a 2-1 home loss to Alabama.
-The Tigers picked up their first win of the 2026 campaign against Murray State, topping the Racers, 3-1, to close out their Bluegrass State road trip on Sunday, August 16.
-Senior Brianna Buels (Indianapolis, Ind.) needed only seconds to strike and open the match against Murray State, scoring in a program-record 14 seconds. She finished with two goals, the second coming in the 67th minute.
-Emily Derucki (Wildwood, Mo.) was credited with the first game-winning goal of her career, putting Mizzou up 2-1 in the 50th minute, her third time finding the back of the net in her collegiate career.
-Sunday marked the second meeting between the MU and MSU, with Mizzou taking the lone prior matchup in 2019, 1-0.
-Missouri returns the bulk of its roster from a season ago, including Kate Phillips (Fishers, Ind.) and center backs Mia Yang (Leawood, Kan.) and Morgan Meador (Ballwin, Mo.), who anchored the shutout in the opener.
-Meador has started a team-high 29 straight matches, while senior goalkeepers Phillips and Riley Wilkerson (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) have split the first two starts: Phillips a shutout draw at WKU, with Wilkerson earning the win at Murray State.
-The match is set for 4:30 p.m. at Walton Stadium and will stream on SEC Network+, with live stats and in-match updates available at MUTigers.com and on X at @MizzouSoccer.

TAKING THE PITCH
-Missouri enters its 31st season of competition in 2026.
-The Tigers return the majority of a roster that gained significant experience a season ago, including their top returning scorer, both starting center backs and both goalkeepers from 2025.
-Mizzou opened the year with two matches in Kentucky, playing Western Kentucky to a scoreless draw and winning at Murray State, 3-1, before its home opener against in-state foe Saint Louis on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 4:30 p.m. at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.

FACILITY FACELIFT
-The Tigers return to an upgraded Audrey J. Walton Stadium for their home opener, part of a project funded by a landmark philanthropic gift from Audrey J. Walton announced in January 2025.
-The gift, one of the largest in Mizzou Athletics history and the largest ever dedicated to Olympic sports, funded a new natural grass playing surface and subsurface improvements.

HOME COOKING
-Thursday is Missouri’s 2026 home opener and the program’s first appearance at Audrey J. Walton Stadium this season.
-The Tigers return to Columbia unbeaten at 1-0-1 after opening the year with a two-match road swing through Kentucky.
-It marks the first time since 2020 that Mizzou has opened a season away from home, and the third time in the past four years that the Tigers have started a year unbeaten through two matches.
-Missouri arrives on a high note, having outshot both of its first two opponents while allowing just one goal across 180 minutes.
-The Tigers are 24-4-2 all-time in home openers and enter unbeaten in their last four.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
-Saint Louis enters 1-1 in 2026, rebounding from a season-opening 2-1 home loss to Alabama with a 5-0 victory over Lindenwood on Aug. 16.
-The Billikens are coming off a standout 2025 under 14th-year head coach Katie Shields, going 14-4-2 with an 8-1-1 Atlantic 10 mark, good for second in the league, and a No. 34 finish in the final NCAA RPI.
-Saint Louis flashed its firepower against Lindenwood, scoring four times in the opening 16 minutes, with Audrey Smith netting a pair.
-The trip to Columbia is the Billikens’ first road match of 2026, following two home dates to open the season.
-Saint Louis’ non-conference slate features five Power Four opponents, including home meetings with Alabama and Kansas.

LAST TIME OUT
-Missouri closed its season-opening road trip with a 3-1 win at Murray State on Sunday, Aug. 16, at Cutchin Field.
-Buels scored the fastest goal in program history, converting a Landis Canada feed just 14 seconds in for a 1-0 lead.
-Murray State answered in the 40th minute to even the match at 1-1 at the break.
-Derucki restored the lead for good in the 50th minute, burying an unassisted strike for the game-winner.
-Buels added an insurance goal in the 67th minute off an Allyssa Turner assist, capping a two-goal, five-shot afternoon.
-The Tigers carried the run of play, outshooting the Racers 18-11 and 9-3 in shots on goal.
-Wilkerson earned the win in her first start of the season with two saves.

THE CORE IS BACK
-Missouri returns the bulk of its 2025 roster, a young group that logged heavy minutes a season ago and comes back a year older.
-Buels, Canada and Yang were named to the 2026 SEC Soccer Preseason Watchlist, with all three earning their second straight watchlist nod after first being honored a season ago.
-The back line returns Yang and Meador, who started together throughout 2025.
-The midfield brings back Olivia Chianelli (Arlington Heights, Ill.), McKenna Moran (Rowlett, Texas), Ava Vetter (Clayton, Mo.), Aly Bryant (Lake St. Louis, Mo.) and Monica Brauner (Kansas City, Mo.), while the attack returns Buels, Derucki, Mia Devrouax (Florissant, Mo.), Canada and Landry Hopkins (Dardenne Prarie, Mo.).
-Phillips and Wilkerson both return in goal.
-The Tigers return at least 10 starters from a season ago, marking just the fourth time in program history Missouri has brought back double-digit starters, with all three previous teams reaching the NCAA Tournament.

TURNING THE PAGE
-Missouri opens a new season looking to build on the flashes it showed in 2025, when the Tigers pushed several ranked opponents and closed the year with back-to-back shutouts.
-Mizzou’s signature result came in its SEC opener: a 3-1 win over Texas, the program’s first multi-goal SEC-opening victory since 2017.
-The Tigers return that experience and a defensive foundation that kept them in matches all fall.
-The continuity has shown early. Through two matches, Missouri holds a 29-19 edge in total shots and a 15-6 advantage in shots on goal while allowing just one goal.

STINGY IN THE BACKFIELD
-Defense was Missouri’s calling card in 2025: the Tigers dropped just two matches by three or more goals all season.
-The Tigers have allowed just one goal in 2026, blanking Western Kentucky in the opener while limiting the Hilltoppers to three shots on target before conceding once at Murray State.
-Center backs Yang and Meador, who played all but three minutes together in 2025, return to anchor the back line.

SIDELINE STAFF
-Missouri added Callie McKinney to Stefanie Golan’s staff as an assistant coach in May, arriving after a season at SMU and five at Bellarmine, where she served as head coach in 2024.
-At SMU, she helped the Mustangs to an 8-8-2 record against one of the nation’s toughest schedules; at Bellarmine, she guided the Knights to Division I-era program records for wins and ASUN victories in her lone season at the helm.
-A Franklin, Tenn., native, McKinney played at Louisville (2016-19), reaching the NCAA Tournament in each of her final two seasons.
-Missouri is one of three in the Power Four that lists nine or more women on staff roster pages (Georgia, Maryland).

STRENGTH IN GOAL
-Missouri returns an experienced, proven tandem in goal, with seniors Phillips and Wilkerson both back to compete for time between the posts after seeing starts in 2025.
-Phillips, a Fishers, Indiana, native, ranked among the top five in the SEC in total saves a season ago, starting all but the final two matches and holding opponents to one goal or fewer on numerous occasions.
-Wilkerson closed 2025 in form, making 13 saves across the Tigers’ final two matches, both of which were shutout draws, coming against Arkansas and Auburn.

SHOW-ME STATE
-Missouri's 2026 roster features 10 in-state players, continuing one of the most home-grown stretches in program history.
-It marks just the second time the program has carried 10 or more Missourians in three or more consecutive seasons (2024–26); the only other run came across Mizzou's first five seasons (1996–2000).
-The Tigers set a program record with 15 Missouri natives on the 2025 roster.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS
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