Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] An offensive outburst for Park in the second half helped the road team defeat the Spartans 6-2 Tuesday afternoon from CBC Field.
Park (5-4-2, 4-3) scored five goals in the second half to pull away from Missouri Baptist. The Spartans found the net twice in that same time span, but it wasn't enough. The loss snapped MBU's three-game win streak.
The first half featured just one goal, by Mario Erpel in the 31st minute. He headed in a cross from Daniel Jackson to put Park ahead 1-0. The evenly-matched first half saw MBU also have a few quality scoring chances.
Aris Nukic nearly floated a shot over the keeper and into the net, but it hit off the crossbar in the 23rdminute. Josh Phillips also had a shot go just wide later in the half after the Park goalie was pulled away from the net for a brief moment.
Both would redeem themselves with goals in the second half, but only after Park built a 4-0 lead. Pedro De Souza struck a bullet into the top left corner to quickly put the Pirates ahead 2-0 early in the second half.
Just 10 minutes later, things got away from MBU, making the score a bit misleading from what play took place on the field. Mirko Sandivari took a running start and sent a hot shot into the net after a previous attempt was blocked to put the Pirates ahead 3-0 in the blink of an eye. Just minutes after Sandivari's goal, a defensive lapse put Park up 4-0 and things seemed out of reach.
The Spartans made things interesting however, in the following minutes. On MBU's next trip down the field, Ben Boyd fed Nukic inside the box and the senior delivered with his fifth goal of the season to cut the deficit to 4-1. Three minutes later, Josh Phillips headed in a free kick from Thales Teixeira in the 64thminute and all of a sudden the Spartans had cut the deficit in half.
The deficit remained two until Tim Kloster kicked in a goal in the 79th minute to put Park on top 5-2. The Pirates would tack on another one for good measure in the 86th minute thanks to Jackson Willard. Nukic and Phillips led the Spartans offensively with nine of the team's 10 total shots. Braedan Passalis made three saves in the loss.
MBU will look to get back on track against Freed-Hardeman on Saturday. The match is set for 7:00 pm.
