COLUMBIA, Mo. – [
BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist men's soccer gave a valiant effort on Saturday night but saw its seven game unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of (RV) Columbia College. The home Cougars used two early goals to hold on for a 2-1 victory.
The Cougars jumped on the Spartans just five minutes into the first half. Joey Koetting headed home a corner kick delivered by Adam Du Toit. 11 minutes later, Parker Moon got his head on a cross from Caden Castello. Just like that, it was 2-0 to the host Columbia.
MBU would settle in after the second goal and make it a game. Five minutes into the second half,
Jona Oesterling lined up a free kick in CC territory after a yellow card on a Cougar player. Oesterling delivered a strike that took a deflection off the wall and caromed into the path of
Cullen Barr. With the goalkeeper out of position because of the deflection, Barr had an open goal and the freshman slotted home his sixth of the year to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Spartans threw the kitchen sink at the Columbia defense in the remaining 40 minutes but were unable to find the equalizer. Columbia survived to stay undefeated (7-0-0) in the AMC.
"We lost our way a bit in the first half," said MBU Head Coach
Jake Alvernia. "We made some changes at the half and I thought we were quite good. We were close to an equalizer a few times. Tough loss but now we'll look to FHU on Tuesday to rebound"
Alvernia was especially complimentary of freshman midfielder
Easton Jaromin, who earned 'Man of the Match' recognition.
"Easton covered a lot of ground in the midfield tonight," Alvernia noted. "His work rate off the ball was infectious and he gave us quality going forward."
Missouri Baptist (9-4-2, 5-2-1 AMC) saw its seven game unbeaten streak come to an end but the Spartans are still in the hunt to host an AMC playoff game with three matches left in the regular season. After Saturday, they sit in a three-way tie at 16 points with Lindenwood-Belleville and Park for third place.
The Spartans are back in action on Tuesday on the road against Freed-Hardeman. Kickoff in Henderson, Tenn. is scheduled for 7 pm.
