College soccer notebook: Former QU skipper Musso earns Coach of the Year honor in OVC

St. CHARLES, Mo. — Dave Musso added another Coach of the Year honor to an already extensive collection.

The former Quincy University women’s soccer coach earned his first postseason honor at the NCAA Division I level when he was named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year after guiding Lindenwood to a third-place finish in the Lions’ third season in the league.

Lindenwood, predicted to finish ninth according to a preseason poll of the league’s coaches, went into the final day of the regular season tied for first thanks to one of the stingiest defenses in the OVC. The Lions allowed just four goals in nine conference games.

The Lions finished 9-5-4 overall and 4-1-4 in the OVC. They beat seventh-seeded Southeast Missouri 4-0 in the OVC Tournament semifinals last Sunday and will face second-seeded Little Rock at 3 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals. Lindenwood and Little Rock played to a scoreless tie on Oct. 20.

Musso spent 12 seasons coaching at QU, guiding the Hawks to a 165-64-26 overall record with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, three regular-season Great Lakes Valley Converence championships and two GLVC Tournament tiles.

He was named the GLVC Coach of the Year four times and the Midwest Region Coach of the Year twice.

C-SC lands two on all-conference team

CANTON, Mo. — A pair of Culver-Stockton College women’s soccer players earned All-Heart of America Athletic Conference honors.

Junior forward Alayna Chandler-Gutierrez and senior defender Savannah Stauffer were named to the All-Heart second team.

Chandler-Gutierrez scored 14 goals — the most by a C-SC player since Jesse Thomas in 2004 — and added one assist. Her 14 goals are tied for second most in the conference and her five game-winning goals also tied for second.

Stauffer helped the Wildcats record eight shutouts this season. Stauffer added one goal and two assists. This is the second time Stauffer has earned all-conference honors, garnering second-team honors after her freshman season in 2021.     

The Wildcats completed the season with a 10-7-2 overall record and a 4-6-1 mark in the Heart while qualifying for the conference postseason tournament for the first time since 2021. The Wildcats lost 1-0 to Central Methodist in the opening round of the Heart Tournament on Tuesday.

Hawks fall short of GLVC tourney bids

QUINCY — The Quincy University men’s and women’s soccer teams went into the final weekend of the regular season with a chance to snare the eighth and final spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament field.

Neither succeeded.

The QU men suffered a 2-0 loss to 14th-ranked McKendree and a 4-1 loss to 24th-ranked Missouri-St. Louis and finished 5-9-3 overall and 4-7-3 in the GLVC. The Hawks went 0-3-1 in their final four games and finished 11th in the 15-team league.

Quincy has made only one GLVC tournament appearance since 2018 and has just one postseason victory since 2016. The Hawks’ record the past eight seasons is 53-68-14 overall and 43-54-12 in GLVC play.

Meanwhile, the QU women suffered a 4-0 loss to McKendree and a 3-0 loss to Maryville to close the regular season with a 4-10-3 record. The Hawks finished in a three-way tie for eighth in the GLVC at 4-7-3, but lost the tiebreaker to Truman State. Upper Iowa also lost the tiebreaker.

WIU makes change in leadership

MACOMB, Ill. — The Western Illinois University women’s soccer program will have a new coach once Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Paul Bubb finishes a national search for a new leader.

Last week, Bubb announced Leathernecks coach Josee Primeau would not be retained following a 1-14-1 campaign and a 1-7-1 record in the Ohio Valley Conference. Overall, Primeau had an 8-32-9 record in three seasons as the head coach.

“After careful consideration and evaluation of our Leatherneck Women’s Soccer program, I have determined that a change in leadership is a necessary step to move the program forward,” Bubb said in a press release. “I want to thank Coach Primeau for her service to Western Illinois University and wish her well in her future endeavors.”