Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears

Missouri State Bears Lady Bears
University	Missouri State University
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference Missouri Valley Football Conference Mid-American Conference
NCAA	Division I (FCS)
Athletic director	Kyle Moats
Location	Springfield, Missouri
Varsity teams	14
Football stadium	Robert W. Plaster Stadium
Basketball arena	JQH Arena
Baseball stadium	Hammons Field
Mascot	Boomer the Bear and Growl the Bear
Nickname	Bears and Lady Bears
Fight song	The Scotsman
Colors	Maroon and White[1]
Website	www.missouristatebears.com

The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State University). These athletics programs date back to 1908. Missouri State competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, and most teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Teams

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State University sponsors six men's and eleven women's teams in NCAA sanctioned sports:^[2]

Men's Intercollegiate Sports	Team Article	Head Coach		Women's Intercollegiate Sports	Team Article	Head Coach
Baseball	Bears baseball	Keith Guttin		Basketball		Kellie Harper
Basketball	Bears basketball	Paul Lusk		Cross Country		Jordan Fife
Football [v 1]	Bears football	Dave Steckel		Field Hockey [v 2]		Vacant
Golf		Neal Stafford		Golf		Kevin Kane
Soccer	Bears soccer	Jon Leamy		Soccer		Rob Brewer
Swimming & Diving [v 2]		Dave Collins		Softball		Holly Hesse
				Swimming & Diving		Dave Collins
				Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor)		Ronald Boyce
				Tennis		Mallory Weber
				Volleyball		Melissa Stokes

Notes

1. The football team competes as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
2. The field hockey and men's swimming and diving teams compete as affiliate members of the Mid-American Conference.

National championships

Team (3)

Association	Division	Sport	Year	Opponent/Runner-Up	Score
NCAA	Division II	Men's Golf[3]	1963	Aquinas	1,188–1,199
AIAW	n/a	Softball (Women's College World Series)	1974	Northern Colorado	14–7
AIAW	Division II	Field hockey	1979	Colgate	2–0

Women's basketball NCAA Tournament results

Season	Eliminated Round	Teams Defeated	Lost to
1991	2nd round	Tennessee Tech (94–64)	Tennessee (47–55)
1992	Final Four	Kansas (75–59) Iowa (61–60) UCLA (83–57) Mississippi (94–71)	Western Kentucky (72–84)
1993	Sweet 16	Oklahoma State (86–71) Maryland (86–82)	Louisiana Tech (43–59)
1994	2nd round	Northern Illinois (75–56)	Virginia (63–67)
1995	2nd round	Utah (49–47)	Colorado (34–78)
1996	1st round		Texas (55–73)
1998	1st round		Notre Dame (64–78)
1999	2nd round	Cal.-Santa Barbara (72–70)	Colorado State (70–86)
2000	1st round		Auburn (74–78)
2001	Final Four	Toledo (89–71) Rutgers (60–53) Duke (81–71) Washington (104–87)	Purdue (64–81)
2003	1st round		Texas Tech (59–67)
2004	1st round		Notre Dame (65–69)
2006	1st round		Purdue (52–73)
2016	1st round		Texas A&M (65-74)

WNIT appearances

2002, 2005 (Champions), 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015

Conference championships

AIAW (no division 1969–1974, Large College 1974–1979, Division II 1979–1982) 5
1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981

Mid-Continent Conference (1983–1992) 2
1991, 1992

Missouri Valley Conference (1992–2012) 9
1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012

Head coaches

• Reba Sims (10 seasons, 129–116), 1969–1979
• Marti Gasser (4 seasons, 62–60), 1979–1983
• Valerie Goodwin-Colbert (4 seasons, 48–63), 1983–1987
• Cheryl Burnett (15 seasons, 319–136), 1987–2002, 10 NCAA Tournament Appearances, 2 Final Four Appearances, 1 Sweet 16 Appearance. 1 WNIT Appearance
• Katie Abrahamson-Henderson (5 seasons, 95–61), 2002–2007, 3 NCAA Tournament Appearances, WNIT Championship
• Nyla Milleson, (5 seasons, 89–69), 2007–2013, 3 WNIT Appearances
• Kellie Harper, (3rd season, 56–41), 2013–Present, 1 NCAA Appearance, 1 WNIT Appearance

Retired numbers

• 10 Jackie Stiles, 1997–2001 (NCAA Division I Women's Basketball's all-time leading scorer with 3,393 points)
• 35 Melody Howard, 1990–1994
• 42 Jeanette Tendai, 1982–1986

Soccer

Club sports

The university also sponsors several club sports teams, including ice hockey (ACHA), lacrosse (MCLA), and roller hockey (NCRHA).

Men's ice hockey

Missouri State ice hockey players celebrate a goal against University of Missouri.

Missouri State men's ice hockey, known as the Ice Bears, began in 2001 and despite not being a varsity NCAA sport receives much attention on and off-campus. The Ice Bears currently compete at the Division II level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) in the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA).^[4] The teams play off-campus at the 2,000-seat Mediacom Ice Park.^[5][6][7]

Men's varsity ice hockey finished the 2009–2010 season ranked 2nd in the MACHA DII with a record of 12–4–0 in 16 league games, the team lost in the MACHA Championship 1–5 to Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville. In addition to the ACHA DII team the University also fields a JV teams playing at the ACHA DIII level.^[8] The team won the MACHA DIII championship with a 5–3 win over Robert Morris University- Peoria.^[9][10][11]

Men's lacrosse

Missouri State also fields a highly successful club Lacrosse Team. Founded in 2003, it competes in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) Division II in the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC). In 2009 and 2010, the Bears received an automatic qualifier for the MCLA National Championships in Denver, Colorado, after winning the GRLC championship. The Bears finished the 2010 season with a record of 11–5, including victories over Creighton, Arkansas, and a 9–3 defeat of in-state rival the University of Missouri. Since 2003, MSU Lacrosse has fielded 5 All-Americans, 41 All-Conference players, 2 GRLC Tournament MVP's, and 2 GRLC Division II Coach's of the Year.

Head Coach	Year	Record
Daren Turner	2002–2008	24–21
Austin Holman	2009–2010	23–9
Pat Callaham	2011–	6–5–1

References

1. "Colors - Identity Standards - Missouri State University". Missouristate.edu. 2015-02-05. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
2. "Missouri State Official Athletic Site". Missouristatebears.com. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
3. "NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship Results" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
5. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20080724171155/http://www.cfpmidweek.com/weeks/IssuePDFs/vo5i19web.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
7. https://web.archive.org/web/20100601181255/http://alumni.missouristate.edu/46496.htm. Archived from the original on June 1, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. "Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association Home Page". Machahockey.com. 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
10. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20080724170815/http://www.cfpmidweek.com/weeks/IssuePDFs/vo5i21web.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Official website