LIBERTY, Mo. - The William Jewell women's soccer team opens the 2020-2021 season on Friday night with a match at Drury University followed by a trip to Missouri S&T on Sunday.

ADMISSION 🎟
🟢 Spectators are permitted at Friday's game at Drury University and will be expected to maintain masks and social distance as required by institution and local health guidelines.
❌ Spectators will not be permitted at Missouri S&T. 

BROADCAST 🎥 
• Friday vs. Drury
• Sunday vs. Missouri S&T

LIVE STATS 📊
• Friday vs. Drury
• Sunday vs. Missouri S&T

CARDINAL NOTES

• The Cardinals will take the field for the field time since November 3, 2019, more than 15 months and 448 days ago. Since then, Jewell has graduated three starters and gained a new head coach. 
• Gone from last season are Grace Schweinfurth, Allison Malott and Bella Catano. The trio combined for 14 goals, 11 assists and 39 points over the last four seasons. 
• Headlining the list of returners is forward Kayla Crowder who owns 12 career goals, which is third in the NCAA era. The senior posted four goals, one assist and nine total points in 2019. Her 2.89 shots per game ranked seventh in the GLVC while her 52 total shots were ninth. 
• Rounding out the senior class is midfielders Lexy Hawkins and Ireland Hawkins defenders Annalee Arbeitman, Miranda Kirchoff and Hania Crow and forward Katie Pohl. L. Hawkins is back with her eight career assists, fifth in the NCAA era. Arbeitman is returning form an injury that forced her to miss the final 17 games last season while Kirchoff is making the move from the goal to the backfield. Crow has been as steady as they come along the back, appearing in 52 games over the last three seasons while Pohl has battled injury throughout her career but boasts four goals on 34 shots. 
• On the other end of the spectrum, the Cardinals brought in a five-member freshman class, including four local products. Riley May (Liberty), Juliann Smith (St. Joseph), Aubrey Avalos (Blue Springs), Kate Lawrence (Shawnee, Kan.) and Abbey Negosian (Santa Clarita, Calif.) are all expected to contribute early in their careers. 
• Anchoring the defense in this spring will be the seniors Crow and Arbeitman who have combined for 87 games played over their last three years. Back from injury is junior Bailey Stedman while all other defensive players are freshmen and sophomores will be baptized by fire. 
• More than perhaps any other program on campus there are lots of family connections within the women's soccer program as Ireland Hawkins and Caroline Staebell are both the second sister in their families to play for Jewell, behind Aspen and Emma, respectively. Additionally, Carolyn Schneck brother Sam is a senior for the men's soccer team, while Olivia Chalabi's older brother Christian played baseball for the Cardinals from 2017-2020. Mallory Dickerson is also the daughter of William Jewell's Director of First Year Experience, Mary Dickerson. 
• In addition to family connections there are several high school teammates for the Cardinals as well including, Jasmine Collier and Morgan Bayers from Raymore-Peculiar, Mallory Dickerson and Paige Holmes of Kearney, Miranda Kirchoff and Caroline Staebell from St. Dominic in O'Fallon, Missouri and Olivia Chalabi and Hania Crow from across the state line in Lenexa, Kansas at St. Thomas Aquinas.

ABOUT DRURY 

• Drury returns to action after going 3-13-2 overall last season and 3-11-1 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. 
• The Panthers are led by first year head coach Justin Olson who came to Drury from Bethany College in Kansas where he went 27-24-4 over three years. 
• Drury returns three players who each scored two goals last year, Chloe Cash, Christine Harpe and Kennedy Thompson. Cash also had one assist for five total points. 
• Keely Combs led the team with 27 shots as a freshman but only eight were on goal, while classmate Harpe was on target more than 77% of the time with 14 shots on goal on 18 attempts. 
• Katilin Knetzke is back after playing all 18 games and 1,671 minutes in goal for the Panthers as a true freshman. She allowed 30 goals while totaling 86 saves.

ABOUT MISSOURI S&T

• Missouri S&T went 6-8-3 a year ago, including 6-7-2 in conference action. The Miners are led head coach Joe McCauley, now in his 11th season at the helm. 
• The Miners lost their top goal scorer from last season to graduation as Kayla Foster accounted for 43% of the scoring (6 goals) and 32% of total shots taken. 
• Peyton Carter is the top returning scorer with two goals on just four shots. Beth Roberts and Madeline Goeke are the only other returning Miners to score a goal in 2019, with one each.
• As a team, the Miners were on target nearly 38% of the time (70-of-185) while averaging 10.9 shots per game. 
• Kristin Steins was the primary keeper last season for Missouri S&T, going 4-7-3, allowing 16 goals with 83 saves.