Preseason matches may be primarily about gaining match fitness for individual players, but Bryan Blitz is crediting one with one of the most notable upsurges in women’s college soccer this season.

Blitz coaches the Missouri Tigers, and the game in question was a preseason trip to Dallas to face SMU. The loss was apparently even worse than it looked, as he tells it.

“We used to always win 5-4. We played 3-4-3 and we went to SMU and they kicked our butts all over the field. I had one week to evaluate, with our staff and our team. I talked with (assistant coaches) Todd (Shulenberger) and Shaunna (Daugherty) and we realized we had more defenders and midfielders, so we changed our system to a 4-3-3 and it has worked out.

“Worked out” would be a massive understatement. The Tigers are off to a 12-2-0 start overall, including a 7-1-0 mark thus far for their first season competing in the SEC. While the formation may look more defensive, Blitz remains true to his muse, and still has his squad doing it with offense, having outscored opponents 29-9 over the 14 matches. The team features a balanced scoring attack that includes three players with 6 goals each: Canadian sophomore Abi Raymer, Georgia Perimeter College transfer Taiwo Adeshigbin and Dallas Texans veteran Alyssa Diggs. Eclipse Select product Haley Krentz has been strong up front as well with 7 assists.

None of which is to say the team isn’t strong defensively. Goalkeeper McKenzie Sauerwein has been strong in goal in front of a solid back line of Allison Hu, Lauren Flynn, Candace Johnson and Danielle Nottingham (with Kelsey Mulcahy deputizing ably).

In midfield, Dominique Richardson holds down the fort, with Kaysie Clark and Raymer taking the attacking roles. Jessica Greer also sees substantial minutes in the middle for Mizzou, with Taylor Grant also playing a key role in attack.

Blitz said the balance between attack and defending is something new for the Tigers.

“We’re leading the SEC in shots, but there’s still a lot of risky business. The difference in this year’s team is we’re actually leading the SEC in defending, which Missouri has never done. We used to always win 5-4. We’re still attacking but we’re attacking out of the back, including with our fullbacks My hat’s off to Todd and Shaunna.

The Tigers face a vital road match Friday at Florida, with first place in the SEC on the line. Blitz said he expects a good match and compared Florida’s style to Barcelona and Missouri’s to Real Madrid. He hopes to have Clark back in midfield as she continues to recover from a leg injury. He also emphasizes that his team is remaining firmly grounded, especially with the help of a senior class that twice in the past three seasons has been snubbed by the NCAA Tournament Selection committee despite winning records.

“They’ve been level-headed. We’ve learned from being left out,” Blitz said. “No one talks about any rankings. The seniors (Adeshigbin, Greer, Hu, Krentz and Mulcahy) are keeping everybody grounded. We just keep working hard and we’ve learned from a lot of things.”

Even meaningless preseason losses.