Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist left opportunities on the table, but walked away with a convincing 3-1 win over the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) in the team's home opener.
The Spartans outshot Saint Francis 25-6 on Wednesday to cruise their way to victory. They controlled possession throughout and found the net three times, a season-high.
"I thought we played well," head coach Jake Alvernia said. "We controlled the game from start to finish and put three away, but we also left a few on the table."
Senior Aris Nukic started the scoring in the 31st minute. After a Saint Francis defender played the ball into the middle, Nukic capitalized to score his first career goal as a Spartan. The St. Louis native settled and struck the ball into the net with his left foot.
Nukic finished the day with a game-high 10 shots. He gave Cougar goalie Austin Williams trouble all afternoon with several close misses. Despite 12 first-half shots, it appeared the Spartans would head into the half up just one goal.
However, the duo of Erick Ocampo and Selmir Ademovic made one final scoring push with 20 seconds left. Ademovic stayed strong to draw a foul in the penalty box and Ocampo finished things off. The senior from Colombia buried the penalty kick to give MBU a 2-0 lead at the half.
"That PK was huge," Alvernia said. "It took some pressure off us going into halftime."
The Spartans picked up right where they left off to start the second half. In total, MBU outshot the Cougars 12-2 in the final 45 minutes and controlled throughout. Several of those attempts nearly padded the lead, but just missed. Gerardo Espinoza hit the post in the 70th minute and Nukic hit the crossbar in the 80th.
Strong awareness from Ademovic helped Espinoza redeem his close miss just minutes earlier. After a Saint Francis foul, Ademovic quickly scurried to ball and found Espinoza wide open cutting toward the net. His pass sent the junior on a breakaway and he finished things off to put MBU ahead 3-0.
Espinoza's first goal of the season put the game away in the 82nd minute. However, the Spartans couldn't preserve the shutout after a goal from Nicholas Do Valle Cardoso in the final minute.
That was the only ball to get past freshman Braedan Passalis, who had another strong performance in net. The Canadian came up big when called upon, including a few sliding saves early.
The team will continue action on Labor Day, Monday, September 5th when they take on LSU-Alexandria at home. The game is set to start at 1:00 pm.
"LSU-A is a tough team," Alvernia said. "They like to get after it defensively. Our speed of play needs to pick up a little bit by then. They'll be a tough test, but we'll take our chances."
