MARSHALL, Mo. – In search of its third win in a row, the Missouri Baptist University men's lacrosse team went into enemy territory and got the job done, defeating Missouri Valley College, 18-11. Contributing to the Spartans' top offensive performance this season was junior midfielder Ian Olenski, who broke out for a career-high seven goals inside MVC's Volney C. Ashford Stadium.
The win was Missouri Baptist's first-ever over the Vikings, having met previously on two other occasions in 2014 (L, 7-14) and 2015 (L, 6-11). With the win, the Spartans climbed back to .500 overall, improving to 3-3 and 3-1 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC). Meanwhile, Missouri Valley could not end its losing streak dropping to 0-4 on the year.
Olenski got off to a great start scoring three of the Spartans' first four goals. After the two teams traded goals and ended the first period tied at 3-3, Olenski's third and eventual game-winning goal sparked the first of two big runs for the Spartans. MBU logged a pair of 4-0 runs in the second period to dwarf MoVal's three in a row midway through. At halftime, the Spartans led 11-6.
Missouri Baptist created momentum by transforming a slim 7-6 lead into a five-point advantage and carried that over into the second half. The Spartans rattled off four goals to begin the second half and pushed the lead to nine before a MoVal goal by Cole Eyckelhoff finally stopped the bleeding.
Missouri Valley outscored the Spartans 4-2 in the fourth, but a comeback was out of the question thanks to the heavy lifting done by MBU in the middle two periods. MoBap scored 13 of its 18 goals in the second and third quarters.
Ian Olenski (St. Charles, Mo. / Francis Howell HS) led the team with 7 goals on 8 shot attempts destroying his previous career-high of 2 goals. He is now one of three Spartans with 10+ goals on the year. The two others leading the pack are Alex Scott and Jaxon Haas, a duo that didn't disappoint on Saturday. Haas was second on the team in points posting a stat line of 3 goals and 3 assists, while Scott tied his season-best for goals with 4 and added 1 assist.
Other notable individual performances included Alex Todd with 4 points (1 G, 3 A), Noah Campbell with 3 points (2 G, 1 A), Noah Boone with 2 points (1 G, 1 A), and Hunter Filla with 13 saves in goals.
Missouri Baptist returns to action on Thursday, March 25, when the Spartans host Clarke University for the first of four games at home.
