Coach Stefanie Golan has been equally direct about where the team must improve. “I think throughout the time that I've been here, we've reduced the number of goals that we're giving up, but we've got to find ways to consistently score easy goals,” Golan said, according to the update.
That feels like the right diagnosis. The report says Missouri scored just 15 times in 2025, and a return like that leaves little margin for error in a league as demanding as the SEC. If the Tigers are going to climb back into the post-season picture, the next step is not dramatic reinvention; it is sharper finishing, quicker decisions in the box and more conviction in the final pass.
The record from 2025 was tough, with the report listing 4-10-3 overall, but the wider picture appears a little less bleak than that alone suggests. The update says many of those defeats came by narrow margins, which helps explain why belief inside the squad has not disappeared.
Goalkeeper Riley Wilkerson called missing the post-season “heartbreaking,” a word that speaks to both the frustration and the motivation inside the group.
Golan reportedly described this as a “new team,” even with veterans still around. That matters. Fresh combinations can bring freshness in attack, but they also need time. Against Western Kentucky, the key may be simple: can Missouri turn structure and energy into end product?
The next storyline is clear now. If the Tigers start fast on Thursday, 13 August, the talk of a November push will feel more than hopeful - it will start to look believable.