ST. LOUIS—Missouri Baptist Men's Soccer (10-4-1) is headed back to the AMC Championship game for the second time in three years. The Spartans battled Lyon College (7-4-2) through 110 scoreless minutes and nine rounds of a penalty kick shootout in the AMC Semifinals on Tuesday night at Spartan Field.
 
In a matchup of the two and three seeds in the AMC Postseason Tournament, it was the underdog and visiting Scots who controlled possession and had more opportunities through the first 80 minutes. Shots on goal, however, were hard to come by (3-2 in favor of Lyon).
 
The task got significantly more difficult for the Spartans in the 83^rd minute when Seosamh Sheerin was sent off with a straight red card. MBU would have to survive the final seven minutes plus overtime with 10 men.
 
The revised strategy to hang on and hope for penalty kicks worked. Lyon failed to record a shot on goal in 27 minutes with a man up. A shootout was required to determine a winner. Both goalkeepers, MBU's Wessel Berenschot and Lyon's Dan Huff, finished with three saves. Now both would be counted on to steal a victory for their side in a shootout.
 
The Spartans' looked to be in control, ahead 3-1 after three rounds of PKs. However, with two chances to win it, back-to-back misses combined with two conversions from Lyon brought the score back to all square. The shootout continued on through four more sudden-death rounds. In the ninth round, Diego Mendez's shot for Lyon caromed off the cross bar.
 
Freshman Grant Strauser was called upon to be MBU's ninth shooter. The Bonne Terre, Mo. native didn't play at all in regular time or overtime, but it didn't matter. Strauser calmly picked a corner, securing the 7-6 victory for Missouri Baptist.
 
"Our back line was amazing tonight and Wes [Berenscho] led the way," noted Head Coach Jake Alvernia. "We showed a lot of heart against a top side."
 
The 'Man of the Match' award was shared by junior center back Richie Taylor and left back Victor Strandahl.
 
The Spartans will now head to Columbia on Friday night for the AMC Championship. The Cougars are the defending AMC Tournament champions and ranked No. 3 in the NAIA. If the Spartans win, they will secure a place in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 pm at R. Marvin Owens Field.