Third Straight 4-1 Result Gives ‘Cats Fourth Straight Win

OTTAWA, Kan. - For the third straight game, Baker men's soccer won by a 4-1 margin after defeating Ottawa on the road Tuesday night to earn the Wildcats' fourth consecutive victory and give them a 5-1 record heading into this weekend's conference opener.

With wins in five of their first six games, the Wildcats are off to their best start since 2018 when the team also began the year by going 5-1.

After the Braves scored the game-opening goal, BU rolled off four unanswered goals with three in the first half, followed by the lone score of the second half.

The Wildcats were spotted a goal in the 23rd minute with an OU own goal tying the score at 1-1. It was Baker's second freebie of the past three games with the first goal of the Morningside match coming on an own goal.

Reilly Marlow-Jones continued his early-season tear with a go-ahead goal in the 36th minute, scoring goals in back-to-back games for the second time this year with goals in four of his past five games. The freshman from Wellington, New Zealand has registered a point in all six matches of 2024 with four goals and three assists.

Less than five minutes later after Marlow-Jones' goal, Parker Hurla netted his first goal as a Wildcat after capitalizing on a wayward OU header and slipping a shot past the keeper to make it a 3-1 lead for BU.

Mo Salas provided the fourth straight goal for the Wildcats with just over 90 seconds off the clock in the second half. Ian Waindim sent a low cross that was flicked on by Hyunwoo Kim over to Salas, who gathered himself and fired in a high banger to seal the 4-1 victory.

It was the first goal of the year for Salas and the third of his career with a goal in each of his previous two seasons for BU.

In his fifth start in goal, Wildcats keeper Christian Villegas totaled four saves and shut out the Braves for the final 75 minutes of the match.

Akira Itadani recorded an assist for the second straight game after coming up with a steal and playing a beautiful ball over to Marlow-Jones on his goal in the first half.

With a 19-12 advantage in the game, Baker racked up exactly 19 shots for the second consecutive match and held a 5-3 favor in corner kicks.

The Wildcats open up with the Heart regular season with a top-25 matchup at No. 14 William Penn on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 11:00 a.m. in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

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