ST. LOUIS, Mo.- The Missouri Baptist men's soccer team nearly pulled a huge upset on #8 ranked Columbia College, however, the Cougars scored near the end of the second half for the 2-1 win.
MBU knew to win against an undefeated ranked Columbia team, the Spartans would have to focus on defense and capitalize when they could on offense. In the beginning of the first half, the Spartans held their own against the tough Cougar offense. The game was very fast paced, but neither team was pushing offensively toward the goal. Missouri Baptist continued to play solid defense, until a foul by Juan Paz that caused a problem midway through the half.
After the foul, the Cougars were able to capitalize, as Antonio Ayres scored his first goal of the year, giving CC a 1-0 lead. The offensive pressure picked up for the Cougars, making the Spartans focus on defense.
Later at the 10:14 minute mark, Marko Paunovic almost made it a two goal lead for Columbia, but goalie Ethan Brunk came up with a big diving save keeping the team in the game.
Even though MBU was down 1-0 at the half, the Spartans played well enough to give themselves a chance to win in the second half. Columbia outshot Missouri Baptist 6-3 in the first 45:00 minutes.
In the second half, it was the Spartan defense continuing to stand strong keeping the game close. The Cougars continued to force shot after shot, but couldn't get past the teams defense and Brunk. Then with 19:00 minutes to go, Danny Traylor shocked the Cougars and the fans, as the forward tied the game up 1-1, scoring past goalie Matt McKenna. Traylor's goal was his fifth of the season, as he continues to spark the MBU offense. "In the game Danny had given us a different dimension up front and we looked to build off his offensive efforts." said head coach Deno Merrick.
The momentum was all in favor for Missouri Baptist, as the half continued to count down both teams picked up the pace looking for the game winner. With 2:00 minutes to go, the Cougars halted the upset by the Spartans as a corner kick by Andres Acosta, found the diving head of Jovan Ilic scoring past Brunk, giving Columbia the 2-1 victory.
Brunk made four saves on the evening, with Jusef Zukanovic and Danny Traylor each having two shots a piece. Even though the team lost a tough game, Coach Merrick saw a lot of positives in the game that they can take into the next game and the rest of the season. "The team played very well against #8 ranked Columbia College. Defensively we were very organized and forced Columbia to play predictable. If we maintain our discipline we will be better in the long run." said Merrick.
The team will look for their first conference victory when the Spartans travel to conference newcomer Lyon College. Game time is set to start at 2:00 p.m.
