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soccer<br />
Women’s Soccer Wins MIAA<br />
for 9th Time<br />
The <strong>Truman</strong><br />
women’s<br />
soccer<br />
team captured its<br />
ninth MIAA title<br />
in 11 years and<br />
advanced to the<br />
2009 NCAA<br />
tournament after<br />
earning the<br />
conference’s<br />
automatic Olivia Hayes<br />
qualifier.<br />
The Bulldogs traveled to Canyon, Texas,<br />
for first and second round action, taking on<br />
rival Nebraska-Omaha in the opening<br />
round. Senior Riley Mahn headed in a<br />
corner kick early in the second half to send<br />
the Bulldogs to the second round against<br />
the region’s top seed, West Texas A&M.<br />
However, the ’Dogs couldn’t find paydirt<br />
in their next match and fell 1-0 to the<br />
host Lady Buffaloes.<br />
The squad had seven players named<br />
MIAA all-conference, including a leaguebest<br />
five to the first-team. Seniors Katie<br />
Reuck, Kelsey Richters and Theresa Bauler<br />
were joined by sophomore Megan Buri and<br />
freshman Olivia Hayes on the first-team,<br />
with Hayes picking up conference freshman<br />
of the year honors.<br />
Freshman Kelsey Twellman received<br />
second-team accolades, while sophomore<br />
Jayne Grisham was named an honorable<br />
mention goalkeeper. Head coach Mike<br />
Cannon garnered his eighth MIAA coach of<br />
the year award.<br />
Of those seven, five were named to the<br />
NSCAA South Central all-region team, as<br />
both Reuck and Hayes picked up first-team<br />
accolades. Grisham (second-team), Bauler<br />
(third-team) and Buri (third-team) were<br />
also selected.<br />
<strong>Truman</strong> graduates eight seniors – Katie<br />
Reuck, Theresa Bauler, Jessica Wiegert,<br />
Kristin Haluszczak, Riley Mahn, Katie<br />
Hinrichs, Isabel Gaeta and Kelsey Richters<br />
– from this year’s squad but will have six<br />
starters, including four all-MIAA<br />
performers returning for the 2010 season.<br />
Men’s Soccer Just<br />
Misses Postseason<br />
Despite posting a 12-3-1 overall record, the<br />
Bulldog men’s soccer team came up just<br />
short in its bid to reach the NCAA<br />
tournament. The men’s South Central Region takes<br />
just the top two teams, and <strong>Truman</strong> finished third.<br />
Senior Drew Pauk and sophomore Jonathan<br />
Brown were named all-region first-team, while junior<br />
Bobby Larkin picked up second-team accolades.<br />
Pauk represented the <strong>Truman</strong> defense by playing<br />
in and starting in all of the teams’ games. He added<br />
four goals to also contribute offensively in addition<br />
to helping the back line record a goals-againstaverage<br />
lower than 0.75.<br />
Brown from Perth, Scotland, led the Bulldog men<br />
in points with 17, with 11 coming on assists. His<br />
0.69 assists per game average ranked third in NCAA<br />
Division II and was the most given by a Bulldog<br />
since Martin Clayes distributed 16 in 2005.<br />
Larkin joined Brown in representing the <strong>Truman</strong><br />
midfield after he led the Bulldog men with six goals<br />
in 16 games. He finished second on the team with<br />
14 points and logged a pair of game-winning goals.<br />
The squad graduates six regular starters but will<br />
return its top three-point scorers and starting<br />
goalkeeper for the 2010 season.<br />
Gregg Nesbitt Named New Bulldog Football Coach<br />
Former<br />
Bulldog<br />
standout<br />
Gregg Nesbitt (’80,<br />
’87) has been<br />
named the football<br />
program’s next<br />
head coach.<br />
“We are elated<br />
to have Coach<br />
Nesbitt back in<br />
Bulldog purple and<br />
are confident that Gregg Nesbitt (left)<br />
his experience,<br />
knowledge, enthusiasm, and character make him<br />
the perfect fit to lead our students participating<br />
in our football program on and off the field,”<br />
said Director of Athletics Jerry Wollmering.<br />
Nesbitt, a native of Hannibal, Mo., received<br />
both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from<br />
<strong>Truman</strong> while playing for the Bulldog football<br />
team from 1976-1979. He earned his bachelor’s<br />
degree in 1980 before adding his master’s<br />
degree in 1987.<br />
“I am tremendously excited and proud to<br />
take over the reins of our <strong>Truman</strong> Bulldog<br />
football program,” said Coach Nesbitt. “This<br />
great university helped equip me for this<br />
profession 30 years ago and also is where I was<br />
blessed to meet my wife Jackie.”<br />
Nesbitt returned to his hometown and was<br />
the head coach for Hannibal High School from<br />
1984-89 leading the Pirates to the state playoffs<br />
in his final three seasons. Nesbitt also served as<br />
the school’s athletic director.<br />
In 1990, Nesbitt returned to Kirksville and<br />
the <strong>Truman</strong> family to join Eric Holm’s staff as<br />
linebackers coach and defensive coordinator.<br />
During his time as a Bulldog assistant, the<br />
program excelled with two nine-win seasons<br />
and two trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs<br />
(1990 and 1992).<br />
Robert Merriman earned second team<br />
Football Gazette all-America honors as a<br />
defensive back under Nesbitt in 1992.<br />
The Bulldogs, during those three seasons,<br />
were 23-9.<br />
In 1993, Nesbitt left <strong>Truman</strong> to become the<br />
head coach at one of the premier high school<br />
programs in the state of Missouri – Columbia’s<br />
Hickman High School.<br />
Nesbitt would spend the next 13 years on<br />
the sidelines in Columbia and would rack up<br />
six Missouri Class Six playoff appearances<br />
culminating in the 2004 <strong>State</strong> Championship.<br />
In 10 of those 13 years, Hickman was<br />
ranked in the top 10 in Missouri’s largest<br />
football class with 95 students receiving college<br />
scholarships and 42 named to Missouri’s allstate<br />
teams.<br />
Following his state championship in 2004,<br />
Nesbitt was named Missouri Coach of the Year<br />
by the Associated Press, the National Federation<br />
of High School Sports Regional Coach of the<br />
Year and a nominee for the NFHS National<br />
Coach of the Year Award.<br />
Nesbitt moved back to the college ranks in<br />
2006 as defensive coordinator and secondary<br />
coach at Central Methodist <strong>University</strong> (NAIA)<br />
before joining Bulldog rival Central Missouri in<br />
Warrensburg prior to the 2007 season as codefensive<br />
coordinator. During the past three<br />
seasons, the Mules defense allowed just 23.3<br />
points per game and 378 yards per game.<br />
While his focus at the collegiate level has<br />
been primarily on the defensive side of the<br />
football, Nesbitt called high school offenses for<br />
over 22 seasons giving him a unique perspective<br />
of being a leader on both sides of the football.<br />
Nesbitt and his wife Jackie (Snell) Nesbitt<br />
(’83), have two sons, Kellen and Ryan.<br />
Winter 2009-2010 39