COLUMBIA, Mo. – With all to play for and a definitive shot at the top of the AMC within reach going into its game with No. 21 Columbia College, Missouri Baptist men's soccer put together a near spotless performance, but it was not enough to defeat the Cougars.
 
MBU (8-4, 2-2 in AMC) defended seamlessly for almost the entire 90 minutes Saturday afternoon against CC (7-3-3, 4-1 in AMC), but the lone mistake for MBU's backline resulted in a penalty kick that the Cougars converted. MoBap's offense was unable to find an equalizer, and the 1-0 result all but dashed the Spartans hopes of finishing in the top two of the American Midwest Conference.
 
The game had defensive battle written all over it from kickoff. After 15 minutes of action had come and gone, a looping ball that bounced awkwardly for senior Nicolo Tossici forced the defender to jockey with a CC attacker for positioning. The referee deemed the contact was worthy of a yellow card for Tossici and a Columbia spot kick. Cougars midfielder Erik Rajoy stepped up and put the only goal of the game in the net (16:49) for his fifth penalty score this season. Aside from the penalty, the center back pair of Tossici and Ross Wilson stood tall the rest of the way, but CC defended its lead successfully.
 
Junior goalkeeper Callum McKinlay commanded the MoBap defense all afternoon and kept the Spartans in it. While he only logged two saves, the Middlesborough, England native found himself mere inches away from possibly securing the Spartans' first tie of the season. McKinlay guessed the direction of Rajoy's penalty correctly, but it was placed just out of his reach. McKinlay also made a heroic save in the final moments of the second half and gave MBU a chance at stealing a late goal and share of the points.
 
On the opposite end, MBU's attack gave its absolute best and outshot CC 10-to-8. It forced Cougars goalkeeper Liam Gibbs into five saves. The opportunities were there, but the shots were either narrowly off target or went into the hands of Gibbs.
 
"The boys played a good game today," head coach Jake Alvernia said. "One mistake was all CC needed. They were tough to break down and when we got the ball into dangerous areas it was always just out of our reach to draw level. Callum [McKinlay] didn't have a lot today but he was brilliant in the small bits [of] communicating… distribution, and a huge save at the end to give us a chance."
 
Missouri Baptist finds itself firmly in third in the AMC behind leaders Williams Baptist and Columbia. MBU has another home bounce back opportunity against Central Baptist, who sit fourth in the standings, at Spartan Field on Tuesday, Oct. 18th at 4 p.m.