ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist Women's Soccer team is unbeaten in their last three as their late season surge continued on Tuesday. On the strength of three second half goals, the Spartans downed Stephens College 4-1 at Spartan Field.
 
It took a while for the Spartans to display the upper hand in this game, but when they did the shots and goals started to come with regularity. The final stats show MBU outshooting the Stars 33 to six, with 19 of the MoBap shots being on frame.
 
Grad student Maddie Mrazik got the ball rolling for the home squad with a determined effort in front of the Stars net. Her point-blank attempt was stopped by the Stephens keeper in the 15^th minute, but the rebound fell directly to Mrazik's feet and she was able to bang it in for a 1-0 MoBap lead.
 
Stephens would equalize in the 20^th minute and that would be it for scoring in the first half. The teams enjoyed the half-time break knotted at 1.
 
Just over five minutes into the second half senior Skylar Hollingshead unleashed a rocket with her right foot from the top right side of the 18-yard box. The Stars keeper barely moved as it flew along the ground to her right and into the net, believing it was either going wide or knowing full-well she had no chance to turn it away. Hollingshead's sixth goal of the season gave the Spartans a lead again at 2-1. It also more or less opened the floodgates for MBU.
 
Hollingshead's contributions to the victory were only getting started as she was a force in the second half.
 
A few moments later, Hollingshead's aggressive attack resulted in another goal, though not directly by her. After a beautiful through-ball by Morgan Hollenbeck near the top of the attacking third sent Hollingshead in all alone, the Stars keeper came out to make a diving stop, not realizing she had wandered outside the 18 to secure the ball. After a brief conference of the officials, the Stars goalkeeper was sent off with a straight red card for an intentional hand ball foiling an obvious scoring opportunity. The Stars would play the rest of the game with a man-down disadvantage. After a brief delay to change keepers, Mrazik stepped up to take the free kick at the top of the box and sent a low line-drive through traffic for her second tally of the game, giving the Spartans a two-goal cushion at 3-1. The two-goal night for the native of St. Peters gives her four on the season, second only to Hollingshead with six.
 
With 22:46 left, junior Claire Andersen got in on the fun after Hollingshead took a shot that the new Stars keeper couldn't control. The native of St. Peters seized the opportunity to score her first goal of the 2023 campaign. It provided the Spartans with the final margin of victory.
 
Hollingshead finished with an astonishing eight shots and five shots on goal in the game as well as setting up Mrazik's second goal of the game with her aggressive attack.
 
Barring anything unforeseen, the victory sets up a "win or come back" game with the Central Baptist College Mustangs on Saturday in Arkansas. The winner of that game is very likely to host an American Midwest Conference Tournament Quarterfinal game next Friday, November 3. The Mustangs are currently holding down the No. 4 spot in the AMC with a 3-1-2 mark in the conference, with the Spartans currently in fifth place at 3-2-1. The only other game that has bearing on the Spartans' immediate future is a matchup between current third seed William Woods University and the Stephens Stars. Tonight's results at Spartan Field and around the conference means MBU can finish no higher than third and no lower than fifth in the final standings. The top four seeds get to host an AMC Tournament game.