Wildcats Fall Short in Conference Showdown at No. 20 Missouri Valley, 3-1

MARSHALL, Mo. – With two of the top teams in the Heart of America facing off against each other, (RV) Baker men's soccer fell to No. 23 Missouri Valley, 3-1 in a hard-fought match here Saturday in Marshall, Mo.

Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Gyorgy Kamaras' goal early in the second half brought life to the visiting Wildcats, but the Vikings added a third score to claim the conference win.

MVC finished with a 13-7 advantage in shots with 10 of those landing on target, while Kamaras and Hunter French each had two shots on goal for BU. Ernesto Hernandez registered a couple of shots as well for the Baker attack with one of his coming on goal in the second half.

The Vikings broke into the scoring first with a goal in the 10th minute coming from their freshman forward Kerim Akpinar, who went on to add his second goal a couple minutes later to give Missouri Valley a 2-0 lead just 13 minutes into the match.

BU keeper Michael Stӧger went on to save the next three MVC shots sent his way, all coming within a seven-minute span after the early goals.

Kamaras would put Baker on the board quickly into second-half play after drawing a penalty in the 49th minute. The Hungarian forward continued to be automatic, converting his sixth PK of the season to keep his perfect record (6-for-6) intact.

Immediately following the BU goal, French put the MVC keeper right to work again with a solid strike that was deflected out for a Wildcats corner.

Baker continued to pepper some shots towards the Vikings defense throughout the rest of the second half, but couldn't find the back of the net, while Missouri Valley tacked on an insurance goal in the 74th minute with Akpinar finishing off his hat trick.

For Kamaras, it was his sixth straight game with a goal and gives him a total of 15 goals on the season, which ranks third in the nation.

The Wildcats return home for a midweek match against conference opponent Park on Wednesday, Oct. 11 with kickoff from Hartley Field set for 7:30 p.m.

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