ST. LOUIS – In search of both a signature win and the first 'W' of the year, Missouri Baptist Men's Lacrosse was unable to get out of its own way in a 12-6 loss at home to No. 5-ranked Columbia College. In its Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) debut, the Spartans committed 11 costly penalties on Wednesday evening bringing about seven extra-man goals for the Cougars.
 
MBU dropped its second straight game to a Top-10 opponent and moved to 0-2 overall and now 0-1 in the KCAC. Columbia, which earned its highest ever ranking in the NAIA polls, improved to 4-1 and remains a perfect 3-0 in league play.
 
The Spartans struck first just two minutes into the contest with a goal from 15 yards out by senior Alex Todd. Then on an assist from Giuseppe Migliazzo, freshman Joe Ripson scored his first collegiate goal on a breakaway to give MBU a 2-1 advantage. Despite the early scoring, the two teams were deadlocked at 2-2 after the opening period.
 
MoBap made its move early in the second scoring three consecutive goals within the first six minutes. At that point, MBU was the team with a target on its back, but things went south quickly beginning with a 3-minute infraction for an illegal stick.
 
During the non-releasable penalty, Columbia took complete advantage of the MBU mishap and cut the lead to one with back-to-back man-up goals (5-4). That was just the start for the Cougars. Just 14 seconds into a 1-minute illegal body check penalty on Luke Slagle, CC tied the game at 5-5 with its third-straight EMO goal. With the Cougars tying the game with 2 and ½ minutes remaining in the second, the halftime break couldn't have come at a better time for MBU to try to regroup.
 
Unfortunately for the Spartans, the momentum stayed in Columbia's corner as the Cougars opened the third with a goal 56 seconds in to give them their first lead of the game. Then, two more unnecessary penalties produced two more successful extra-man opportunities for Columbia.
 
When all was said and done, the Cougars put up nine unanswered goals before the Spartans converted on their first of four man-up tries. Luke Slagle scored his second goal of the season at the 4:12 mark of the fourth quarter.
 
One Spartan who remained busy all night long was goalie Hunter Filla. In total, the Cougars fired off 31 shots on goal giving the senior goalie 19 saves. FIlla was also credited with an assist following a picture-perfect pass upfield to Alex Todd on a breakaway goal.
 
The next chance for the Spartans to get win No. 1 on the season is Saturday at 1 p.m. when they play host to upstart program William Penn University (2-2, 0-0 KCAC).