Warrensburg, Mo. (Aug. 24, 1999) -- Coming off the best season in its four-year history, Central Missouri State University's women's soccer team opens its 1999 campaign on the road with a history-making match at Missouri Southern State College on Monday (Aug. 30) at 7 p.m. It will be the first conference women's soccer match in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association history, as well as the first official collegiate women's soccer match for Missouri Southern.

Women's soccer is an MIAA sport for the first time this season, as MSSC and Northwest Missouri State University have elevated their programs from club level to varsity status to join the already-established programs at Central Missouri, the University of Missouri-Rolla, Southwest Baptist University and Truman State University.

Coach Al Iantorno's Jennies were 10-4-2 last season and return 10 players who started at least nine games. Although he has just one senior on his squad, Iantorno expects to field a veteran team in Monday night's opener. Sophomore goalkeeper Carrie Payne is coming off a superb freshman season a year ago in which she produced a goals-against-average of 0.55, fourth best in the NCAA Division II. All 10 of the Jennies' wins last season were shutouts.

Also returning are last season's scoring leaders, junior Amy Krumm and sophomore Jessica Rausch, each of whom had eight goals. Junior Molly McCain, the Jennies' career scoring leader, had just five goals last season after scoring 16 the previous year. Midfielders Lorri Cange, the team's lone senior, junior Sabrina Sanders and sophomore Megan Heideman all were regulars last season, as were defenders Shaunita Sharpe, a sophomore and Kristen Janky, a junior.

Iantorno expects two members of his talented freshmen class to crack the starting lineup - midfielder Jessica Goedecker, a member of last year's state championship team at Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis, Mo., and defender Tiffany Meyer, from St. Charles (Mo.) West High School.