Wildcats Knock of No. 22 Broncos, Remain Unbeaten After Labor Day Classic

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Playing host to the Labor Day Classic, Baker men's soccer continued its hot start to the 2023 season after picking up another top-25 win on Monday with a 1-0 victory over No. 22 Hastings and securing a draw against Morningside on Saturday to stay unbeaten on the year.

With a 4-0-2 record, the Wildcats are off to their best start since the 2015 team went 5-0-1 in its first six matches of the season.

Baker began the weekend with a Saturday night matchup against the Mustangs that featured an evenly-played match with both sides unable to find the back of the net. Each squad recorded eight shots in the contest with all of Baker's coming in the second half of play.

The Wildcats had plenty of opportunities to break the deadlock as they carried a 10-4 advantage in corner kicks. Gyorgy Kamaras registered half of the Wildcats' shot output with his fourth and final attempt coming on a header off of a corner kick in the 84th minute that tailed over the goal.

BU's enforcer between the pipes, Michael Stoger earned the front end of his back-to-back shutouts from the weekend with three saves against the Mustangs attack. Meanwhile, Morningside's keeper Timon Koerber snatched all five of Baker's shots towards goal.

In Monday's game against the Broncos, it was an early goal by Tony Salas that served as the game-winner after the senior forward launched a shot from downtown in the 11th minute that slipped through the arms of the Hastings keeper for the only goal of the tournament finale.

It was another evenly-matched game for Baker on the stat sheet with Hastings holding a slight edge in shots (9-8), while the Wildcats owned a 5-3 margin in corner kicks. The Baker backline turned in a brilliant performance defensively, holding the Broncos to just one shot towards goal which resulted in Stoger's only save of the day.

In its first six matches of 2023, Baker has notched four clean sheets and has yet to give up a goal in the second half this year.

Noah Tipene earned his first assist of the fall after setting up Salas' long-distance bomb. The freshman from New Zealand was a key piece to the Wildcats' success this weekend, playing all 90 minutes of both matches while manning the midfield for BU.

With just under 10 minutes left in the match, the Broncos had a golden opportunity to notch an equalizer after earning a penalty on a play in the box. However, Sandro Rubio's PK clanged off the crossbar and the BU defense was able to react quickly and clear away the rebound to preserve the shutout.

Despite being held in check for most of the match, Kamaras finished as the shot leader for BU with two of his three shots landing on target.

Baker wraps up its non-conference schedule with a home match against in-state foe Ottawa on Saturday, Sept. 9 with kickoff from Hartley Field set for 7:30 p.m.

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