FULTON, Mo. – Missouri Baptist men's soccer wrapped its regular season slate with a thrilling come-from-behind win and a disappointing loss to finish the campaign at 11-5 and 5-3 in the American Midwest Conference.
MBU came into the last week of the season needing one win to secure third place in the final AMC standings. After falling behind early in its last home game on Wednesday against Hannibal-LaGrange (HLG) and a disastrous first half, the Spartans rallied coming out of intermission and scored twice to earn a 2-1 victory, progressing their winning streak to three games. MoBap would then travel to Fulton, Mo., for a date with the Owls of William Woods (WWU). The Spartans controlled much of the possession and had numerous chances, but were unable to breakthrough and surrendered two goals in the second half for a 2-0 defeat.
Missouri Baptist def. Hannibal-LaGrange, 2-1
MoBap came out looking out of sorts for the first 45 minutes against the Trojans, and a goal just six minutes in off the foot of Jose Amador from a corner kick chance (5:45) had the Spartans reeling.
HLG would leave a handful of opportunities on the table as the makeshift MBU defense was able to bend but not break the rest of the half. Heading to the locker rooms, it was just a one goal margin to make up. The Spartans came out of the break looking like a team possessed, firing away shots and creating opportunities left and right. The equalizer came off a true poachers chance that forward
Louie Perez dispatched with class. The senior got to a loose ball between a bevy of Trojan defenders coming from a deflected
Matteo Uez shot in the penalty box. Perez struck it cleanly with his left foot into the bottom corner to tie up the match (49:03).
Perez would again come to the rescue, snapping his six-game cold streak with a second goal 15 minutes later. A bad pass from the Trojan defense was pounced on by the hometown product. A blocked shot was followed by a thunderous second one into the net off the rebound (64:49) to give the Spartans the lead and eventually the win.
MoBap handed out 15 shots after intermission and ended up outshooting Hannibal 22-13 after a first half where the teams were deadlocked 8-8 in shots. Both goalkeepers, MBU's
Callum McKinlay and HLG's Samuel-Ben Elfner were forced into six saves each. Perez's brace propelled him back to the top of the goalscoring list for the Spartans with 11 on the season.
William Woods def. Missouri Baptist, 2-0
Missouri Baptist was not able to replicate the previous successes of the three wins that preceded on Saturday, namely in the final third. William Woods defended MoBap from breaking through with a goal despite several chances and shots just long enough to steal the lead. The Spartans put up 19 shots to the Owls six, but none were able to beat WWU goalkeeper Iker Gonzalez, who finished with a whopping 10 saves.
The game would go 64 minutes until the opening score, where a WWU counter that bounced awkwardly between several MBU defenders led to a goal from forward David Fink (63:52). Despite MoBap's best efforts to claw its way back for a goal to tie it, the Owls held strong and Fink secured a late dagger inside the last minute to put the game to bed (89:20).
Missouri Baptist will now turn its attention to the postseason. After Saturday's results, William Woods managed to jump up to the six seed in the standings of the AMC, meaning MBU will now host the Owls in a rematch of Saturday in one week on Nov. 5th, 2022 at 7 p.m. for the No. 3 vs. No. 6 quarterfinal matchup.
