For the second time in three weeks, Emporia State has named a new head coach to its athletic department. Yesterday,

Bryan Sailer smiles as his son Brayden applauds after Sailer is announced head coach of ESU soccer Wednesday afternoon at Sauder Alumni Center. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

 Bryan Sailer was named the new head soccer coach at ESU. From the opening statement, Sailer was excited for the opportunity.

            “I’m here to develop something special,” Sailer said. “I’m here to bring what I know and know I can do to Emporia State, and that excites me greatly.”

            A coaching profile that includes multiple levels of coaching experience, Sailer has a combined record of 244-68-12 in his career as a head coach. After coaching at the high school level in Colorado for 10 years, Sailer came to Kansas where he began his career at Barton Community College in Great Bend.

            Sailer was named the Jayhawk Conference Coach of the year in 2008 and went on to hold a 59-23-2 record at Barton. In 2008, Sailer led the Cougars to the KJCAA Championships and an 18-4 overall record.

            Not only does Sailer bring a winning record as well as enthusiasm to Emporia, he plans on expanding his recruitment process internationally as well, something he has done in the past.

            “It’s a universal sport,” Sailer said. “I’ve had players from about 10 different countries. If you have a couple of international players, they all play different styles in what they’re used to, and mixing that in is tough to defend. It could be very dynamic.”

            Director of Athletics Kent Weiser echoed the excitement that recruiting internationally brings to both the soccer program and the ESU campus.

            “That possibility is exciting,” Weiser said. “A lot of times you can get kids (who) just want a chance to play in college. And you can get some really quality players without the scholarship costs if you know where to look, and they get a chance to go to school in the U.S. He’ll exhaust all possibilities. I’m sure of that.”

            Sailer’s strength in his resume comes from turning around the soccer program at Barton something that will have to be done here at ESU. Last season the Hornets struggled to break ties in going 1-11-6 and tying the MIAA record for ties in a season.

Sophomore Midfielder Ashley Hill noted the excitement that Sailer’s resume brings to the current Hornets.

            “I think he’s going to do a really good at attacking to get our numbers up instead of just playing defense most of the time like we have been for a while,” Hill said.

            Despite the work that has to be done, Sailer said that ESU will be a good sell for future recruits.

            “(ESU) is a very good sell,” Sailer said. “I’m selling the future… and you’re selling the fact that you’re going to be part of something special. We’re going to do this together, and we’re going to turn this thing around, and we’re going to do it the right way.”

 Brandon Schneeberger

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Emporia State Head Soccer Coach Jim Schneiderhahn has decided to leave ESU after completing his fifth season as the

Schneiderhahn

Hornets’ head coach. Schneiderhahn accepted an assistant coaching position with Division I Illinois State University on Tuesday.

“This was a very difficult decision,” Schneiderhahn said. “I believe in what we have been doing here, and I think the Hornet program is poised to move to the next level. The opportunity to be close to where I’m from in St. Louis, with my family there and in Indianapolis, was just too strong to ignore.”

Schneiderhahn, who is originally from St. Louis, Mo., began his career at Benedictine College in Atchison before coaching at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. After Hurricane Katrina moved Schneiderhahn from New Orleans, he accepted an opening at ESU.

In his five years, Schneiderhahn has gone 9-77-9 on the field but provided stability from a program that at one point saw four coaches in four years.

“Our program was in disarray when he arrived,” said Director of Athletics Kent Weiser. “And so he had to somewhat start over from the ground up, and I can just see the kind of student athletes that he has recruited. They are top quality kids, people, and students and athletes. He’s restored that to us.”

Schneiderhahn was also responsible for coaching eight players to All-MIAA status during his five-year tenure including Defender Jessica Decker who has earned second-team honors, a feat that had not been accomplished by a Hornet soccer player in the past four years.

Weiser stated that the search for a new soccer coach will begin immediately, but results will most likely come after the new head basketball coach is named.

“It might be a little bit longer (than basketball)…” Weiser said. “Because this is kind of an unusual time… Soccer usually you’ll see that kind of (coaching) movement a little bit more towards the month of April or May. If we could be done during the end of April with the soccer search, we’ll be good.”

The soccer team currently has six early signees from Schneiderhahn that Weiser stated are remaining with the team. Kristen Arnold, the graduate assistant coach is currently handling the day to day operations of the Hornet soccer program, has touched based with the signees.

Before moving on completely, Schneiderhahn recognized the importance that ESU has played in his life.

“(ESU) will always be a very special place for me as this is where I came following the Hurricane Katrina situation.” Schneiderhahn said. “I really needed a place to land my feet and Kent, Carmen (Leeds) and the whole athletic department allowed me to do that.”

Brandon Schneeberger

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Emporia State concluded their season this Saturday with a 3-0 loss to the Mavs of Nebraska-Omaha. Although the Hornets were unable to come out on top, they fought hard in the contest controlling the shot attempt battle for a large portion of the game.

“I think that we played really well during the first half, and we really did battle the whole game,” said senior defender Lauren Cathey. “It’s just unlucky. We played really hard, and I was happy to play with the team for the last time.”

Nebraska-Omaha wasted no time getting out on top in the game as their first goal came in the third minute of action off a shot by Hilary Horvatic that bounced off the top right cross bar. Emporia State showed grit however outshooting the Mavs 9-5 in the half, despite allowing the early goal.

Nebraska-Omaha would score again in the 32^nd minute giving the Mavs a two goal edge heading into the half.

“One of the things that we’ve been kind of preaching to our girls (is) that stats really don’t mean a thing in soccer,” said Head Coach Jim Schneiderhahn. “We were better stat wise than they were in the first half. And they had the two-nothing leading.”

What may have been Emporia State’s best chance to generate a goal in the game came late in the first half off a cross by Sarah Anderson to Mindi Lozenski. Lozenski would attempt to head the ball in but the shot would prove too high.

The Mavs would put the game away for good on a goal in the 52^nd minute, as freshman goal keeper Natalie Hoernig came out on the shot attempt. Danielle Archuleta of Nebraska-Omaha would score on the empty net.

The loss gives the Hornets a 1-11-6 record for the season, a season that saw a large amount of overtimes, ties and close loses.

“As I kind of told the girls, we were in every game this year except for a couple early ones,” Schneiderhahn said. “We were ahead I think it was six or seven matches during the course of this year. We’ve got to learn to be successful and finish games out and play with leads.”

Hornets Kylee McCullough, Haley Edgar, and Cathey finished their careers for Emporia State on their Senior Day.

“It’s nothing tangible that they you can hang your hat on,” Scheiderhahn said. “But what they did is they brought a really good personality to the program (and) tremendous leadership.”

For Cathey and the rest of the seniors, the hope is that their leadership has helped in the building of a program.

“We went through a lot. We started off my first year not winning any games, and we’ve slowly progressed, and I think next year they’re going to be really well. I’ve just enjoyed playing, and battling through and hoping to hopefully build a program up to be something really good someday.”

Brandon Schneeberger/The Bulletin

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The Emporia State soccer team fell this weekend to #2 Central Missouri Jennies 2-0. The Hornets were only able to generate two shots in the contest both of them coming on goal. Central Missouri had better fortunes as they had 20 total shots with half of them coming on goal. Lexie Bristow of Central Missouri scored each of the two goals for the Jennies in the 27^th and 55^th minutes of action. For ESU, Nikki Schmitz had eight saves on the day. ESU travels to Missouri Western this Thursday for their next contest. They look to finish the season at home against Nebraska-Omaha Saturday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m.

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The Emporia State Hornets fell in another hard fought contest to the Washburn Lady Blues this Thursday. After coming up even for 103 minutes of play, the Hornets fell 1-0 in the second overtime on a golden goal. The loss stops a streak of three straight ties.

“I think we’ve lulled ourselves into some sense of security with the draws that we’ve been having lately,” said head coach Jim Schneiderhahn. “As I just told the girls, before what we’ve doing has been good enough, because we’ve been struggling the last couple of years. I think we’re beyond that now.”

The first half saw Washburn control the possession as they outshot the Hornets 6-0. For Emporia State, goal keeper Natalie Hoernig did her job with two saves in the half. She would end with four saves on the day.

Perhaps the best opportunities for Emporia came in succession late in the second half. With six minutes left in regulation, Hannah Carlson collided with Washburn’s goalie Ashley Klone on a breakaway attempt. Carlson would be whistled for the foul as neither player was seriously injured.

“I just saw Catie (Hyde) making the flick and tried to give it my everything to make it there, but I was unfortunately a second too late, and she made a great save,” Carlson said.

Less than two minutes later Holli Schletzbaum had a shot on goal that went off Klone’s hands. Neither team would be able to put one in before regulation.

“We have to be willing to take those psychological, emotional and physical risks,” Schneiderhahn said. “There’s a reason why it gets physical in there in front of the goal because that’s prime real estate. If you’re not willing to battle in there than we’re not going to come out.”

Overtime would prove much of the same as Washburn continued to control possession throughout. After the first ten minutes of extra play, neither team was able to put one in. Not long after the second overtime began, Markie Gallagher would score the golden goal for Washburn with her header in the 104^th minute of action.

“It’s tough, of course, going into overtime and we’ve been there the past four games,” Carlson said. “Unfortunately, this one didn’t go in our favor, but we need to turn these into wins, and it’s just not good enough at this point.”

The Hornets will play two of their last three on the road. They travel to #2 Central Missouri on Oct 30.

Brandon Schneeberger

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The Emporia State women’s soccer team tied for the third straight match Sunday against Truman State University, 1-1. The Hornets scored early in the first half, and TSU was not able to respond until very late in the second half.

“We’re continuing to battle and put ourselves into good positions to win,” said head coach Jim Schneiderhahn. “That’s what we have to take away from every game.”

The Hornets were able to play tough defense lead by freshman goal keeper Natalie Hoernig with four saves and sophomore goal keeper Nikki Schmitz with six saves. The two only allowed one goal of the 30 shots attempted by TSU.

Junior midfielder Jessica Decker scored the Hornets only goal in the 24^th minute, taking the lead relatively early in the game.

“It was my first goal of the season, it felt amazing.” Decker said.

In the second half the Hornets intensity died down between the two teams, and in the 87^th minute TSU scored their first goal, tying the match and sending it into overtime.

“In soccer you can’t go all out (for) 90 minutes,” Schneiderhahn said. “There is a rhythm of play. When the opportunity is on, you need to push the issue, when it’s not you need to hold back.”

In the first overtime both teams were working off responding to the goal by TSU, but neither team scored.

“We tried to hold them at the one goal (lead) but it didn’t work out,” Decker said. “We had a lot of offensive opportunities. We need to work on finishing games.”

Coach Schneiderhahn agreed.

“Sometimes we play too pretty soccer, and sometimes we have to win ugly. Luck favors the bold, and we’re learning to be that way,” Schneiderhahn said.

The second overtime brought about renewed intensity between the Hornets and TSU as they strived for the upper hand. In the overtime neither team was able to put the necessary goal in.

“We got very lucky (with the last shot),” Schmitz said. “A tie is not a win, we’re still not satisfied with that.”

With the Hornets tie match their record is now 1-8-4 for the season and 1-7-3 in the MIAA.

“There is something to be said that we didn’t play very well and Truman is a good team.” Schneiderhahn said. “We just ended their season as far as conference title goes.

The Hornets next home appearance will be Thursday, October 28^th against rival Washburn University at 4 p.m.

Chris Dvorak

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Schneeberger

Moving the Emporia State soccer team to the ESU pitch from the TRYSA complex was a good idea. The benefits of an on campus site are plentiful. Students have easier access to games, parking is in some cases easier, and overall support for team from a campus perspective goes up.

However, something’s missing at our home soccer field, and it can be found if you simply turn on the lights at the pitch.

For those still left in the dark, some clarification: the ESU pitch needs lights. The soccer team at this school is at a disadvantage when it comes to campus support, and that disadvantage is due to the lack of lighting at the pitch.

Think about it. The volleyball team is fortunate enough to have a schedule in which they play every home game at 7 p.m. That gives plenty of time for the average Emporia employer to get off work, pick up the kids from practice, grab a meal and still make a game. Cross country even has a better time frame with their races coming at 5 p.m. And we all know football has great scheduling.

This isn’t meant to harp on the other sports, but to shine some light (pun unintended) on what soccer may be missing out on. Due to having no lights, the soccer team has to play many of their games at 4 in the afternoon, a time when many are working, at practice or still in class. The addition of adding lights opens up flexible scheduling for the soccer team, allowing them to play in “prime time.”

Moving a soccer game to evening hours increases the excitement of going to a game as well. Everything is more exciting at night. Why else is the matinee ticket always cheaper? Going to a soccer game at night is simply more appealing, just like everything else.

While we’re at it though, let’s not stop at lights. Every other sport has something else too: a scoreboard. Imagine arriving at a soccer game half an hour late and not having to ask what the score is or how much time is left.

A scoreboard wouldn’t just benefit fans it would more importantly benefit coaches and players. Every other sport offers this to the players; it’s time soccer does the same.

Many traditional readers may think this is a significant part of soccer, trying to figure out the score and the time. I say it’s time to move on, time to finally have lights and a scoreboard, with a clock letting both the fans, players, coaches and, yes, the media know exactly what’s going on.

Brandon Schneeberger

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The Emporia State Soccer team is no longer winless thanks to strong defense and two goals by Amanda Penney. This Saturday the Hornets took on Southwest Baptist on the road. The game saw no action as far as goals are concerned until Penney scored her first in the 60^th minute. ESU continued to play strong defense until Penney scored what would be the go ahead goal in the 85^th minute of play. Southwest Baptist would score two minutes later but could not create an equalizer. For the game, ESU was out shot 21-16 and led by Amanda Penney who had eight shots, four of them coming on goal. The Hornets return to the pitch this Thursday Oct 14. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Brandon Schneeberger

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Catie Hyde works to maintain possession against Missouri Western Saturday afternoon at the ESU Pitch. Jon Coffey/ The Bulletin

The ESU Soccer team tied Missouri Western State University this Saturday, playing very well after their 4-1 loss to The University of Central Missouri earlier in the week.

“We all went into this one thinking that it was the one we were going to get,” said Jessica Decker, junior midfielder. ”We’ve been connecting really well as a team lately… If we keep it up we’re going to get a win.”

Despite the tie, the Hornets felt optimistic about their performance and a general team cohesiveness that they have been improving on.

At the beginning the Hornets were playing sluggishly but they picked up their offense and played well for most of the regulation.

“I was worried for the first 25-30 minutes of the match, we weren’t looking like we were in it,” said Head Coach Jim Schneiderhahn. “Eventually we perked it up and started to do some good things.”

The Hornets kept MWSU on the defensive, playing aggressively and keeping control of the pace of the game.

“We did much better in the defending, we didn’t give up any opportunities,” Schneiderhahn said. “We’ve had a bad habit of allowing a goal that shouldn’t have happened.”

In the overtime periods, MWSU picked up their game, and the Hornets stagnated, producing only one shot compared to MWSU’s four.

“The main thing is we need to take on their players,” Decker said. “A lot of times we go to (the) sideline instead of directly to the goal. That’ll get more opportunities for us.”

The Hornets had good opportunities to score, but blocks by the goalie, ball mishandling, and general bad luck prevented the Hornets from making any goals. After opening up the season with a 0-0 tie, the Hornets again played 110 minutes of action with the same result.

“We hit the posts a couple times, their keeper made a couple saves, we fumbled away a couple opportunities,” Schneiderhahn said. “It’s hard when you come so close and battle so hard, but it is something to build on. It’s one match to the next. The goal is for us to get better every day.”

The Hornets also out shot their opponents 18-10, with eight being shots on goal compared to MWSU’s five shots on goal.

“We need to work on getting quality shots on goal,” Decker said. “We need to focus more to make the shots.”

The Hornets next will travel to The University of Nebraska-Omaha today for their next match.

Chris Hopkins

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ESU returned to the pitch this Thursday to take on the #3 ranked Jennies of Central Missouri. After sticking with the Jennies for 70 minutes of play Hornets fell 4-1.

“I thought that we did really well,” said Head Coach Jim Schneiderhahn. “They’re a good team, but we did a lot of things that they struggled against. We gave up a bad goal on number three, and that really kind of took the air out of us.”

The Hornets found themselves down a pair of goals early, but continued to fight hard after a goal by Sarah Anderson in the 30^th minute of play that went over the outstretched hands of the goalie. ESU would enter the half only down a goal to the third ranked team in the nation.

The second half showed a resurgence of energy from the Hornets especially during the initial 20 minutes of the half in which the Hornets controlled possession.

“We knew that they were going to come out and be really strong in the second half because we were really close with them… but our focus in the second half was to come out stronger than they were,” Anderson said.

Though the beginning of the half started strong, the Jennies answered the call with a goal by Alyssa Rhodes in the 70^th minute, followed by a goal five minutes later by Carly Standley.

The Hornets continued to struggle offensively only generating two shots to 15 by the Jennies. Going in the Hornets looked to produce at least one shot per forward but were unable to register many chances.

Schneiderhahn compared the offensive struggles to a baseball player waiting for the perfect pitch.

“It’s like in baseball when you’re pressing at the plate,” Schneiderhahn said. “You’re looking for that perfect pitch to hit, and if you’re looking for the perfect pitch to hit, you ain’t going to get it. It’s very similar in soccer. They’re looking for that perfect opportunity where everything lights up and they got the perfect shot to go into the corner of the net, and that ain’t going to happen.”

Defender Nikki Dittman was the other Hornet able to generate a shot in the second half. ESU was also outplayed in corner kicks, allowing 10 and registering only three.

The Hornets look to regroup and stay at the pitch for their next game against Missouri Western at 1 p.m. Saturday Oct. 2.

Brandon Schneeberger

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The Hornets were able to generate offense in the first half this Saturday when they took on rival Washburn. Lauren Cathey scored her first goal for the Hornets this season in the 34^th minute of play, giving the Hornets a 1-0 lead. The Hornets would hold off Washburn until two goals late in the contest by the Lady Blues. Washburn’s Markie Gallagher and Leah Talley each scored in the 87^th minute sealing the victory. The Hornets were able to produce four shots on the game all of them coming on goal. ESU returns to the pitch at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sep. 30.

Brandon Schneeberger

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