ST. LOUIS, Mo.- The Missouri Baptist men's soccer team had to play a man down in the second half, and it doomed the team in the end as the Spartans fell 2-1 in overtime to Williams Baptist.
Prior to the match, Gavin Cuddy, Reed Holler, Dan Howerton, Nemanja Pandzic, Devin Perry and Joe Whitacre were acknowledged by their coaches, teammates and the fans for their play at Missouri Baptist.
The Spartans came out fired up in the first half, controlling the pace of the game and spreading the field making the Eagles chase MBU around. At the 8:25 mark, Joe Whitacre stole the ball away from the Williams Baptist defense and the senior used his speed the rest of the way, taking a shot and beating Eagle goalie Cody Jones to make it 1-0 Missouri Baptist.
The team continued the offensive pressure on WBC outshooting the Eagles 13-6, however, the Spartans couldn't find the back of the net the rest of the half. Nemanja Pandzic got the start in net and made five saves in the first 45:00 minutes.
In the second half, the game got a lot of more physical, as more fouls were getting called and the speed of the game picked up even more. In the 55th minute, MBU's Reed Holler got his second yellow card of the game, so the team had to play down a man the rest of the match.
The Eagles were able to take advantage of MBU playing down a player, outshooting Missouri Baptist 8-4 in the second half. At the 70:10 mark, Williams Baptist was awarded a corner kick and after the ball was kicked around the box a bit, Gabriel Sitibaldi was able to tip in his first goal of the season, tying the match 1-1.
With the score now tied, the Spartans started to focus on their offense more again. The best chance came for MBU in the 88th minute, as a cross from a Spartan player found the head of forward Danny Traylor. The Edinburgh, Scotland. native headed the ball towards the net, but Jones tipped the ball off the crossbar keeping the game tied 1-1 and ending regulation.
In overtime, the Spartans knew they needed this win to move up in the American Midwest Conference. The Eagles, however, had other plans as at the 93:23 mark, Victor Vouga was able to take a shot inside the box and beat Pandzic giving Williams Baptist the 2-1 victory.
Whitacre led the Spartan offense, as besides his second goal on the season, the senior led the team with five shots, two landing on goal. Devin Perry and Traylor each added three shots for MBU.
The regular season ends for the Spartans with a record of 4-12-1 (2-5-1 AMC). The team will now wait and see who and where MBU will play in the American Midwest Conference playoffs.
