Four-Goal Effort Fuels Senior Night Victory for (RV) Baker

BALDWIN CITY - In the second-to-last match of the regular season, (RV) Baker scored its most goals against a conference opponent this fall with a 4-0 victory over Grand View here Saturday night on Senior Night for BU.

Prior to the match, Baker honored eight seniors for their contribution to the Wildcats men's soccer program. Those seniors included Mason Anderson, Sahal Arwo, Falco Dijkhuis, Ethan Hensyel, Stevan Matic, Joaquin Munoz, Milan Nikolic and Case Schroeder.

The Wildcats scored two goals in each half with Jacob Thomas and Evans Osei Amankwah scoring in the first 12 minutes of the match, while Hensyel and Marco Salgado tacked on goals in the second half.

BU controlled the game with a 12-6 advantage in shots and an 11-2 favor in corner kicks. Three of Baker's four goals in the match came off of corner set pieces.

Baker's starting goalkeeper Christian Villegas finished with four saves and posted his fifth shutout of the year with all but one of his clean sheets coming against a Heart team.

After scoring in the opening minutes on Wednesday against Missouri Valley, Baker came right back with an early goal again today as Thomas came up with a steal near the midline and weaved his way through the GVU defense before hammering home a goal in the sixth minute.

Osei Amankwah added a quick second one after a perfectly-placed corner kick from Iwan Roberts landed at the foot of Osei Amankwah and the freshman midfielder was able to tap it in to make it a 2-0 lead just 12 minutes into the match.

The Wildcats scored in the first six minutes of the second half as well with Salgado cleaning up an initial header from Osei Amankwah on a BU corner kick for his first goal of the 2024 season.

Then, with the game in the bag, Hensyel garnished the Senior Night victory with a goal in the 84th minute to give the senior from Topeka, Kan. the second goal of his career and close out Baker's 10th win of the season.

It was the third goal of the year for both Osei Amankwah and Thomas with Osei Amankwah scoring in back-to-back games of BU's Labor Day Classic at the start of the season, while Thomas recorded a brace at Clarke earlier this month.

Roberts and Mo Salas each had an assist for the Wildcats with Roberts earning his second one of the season while Salas' was his first of 2024.

Picking up a crucial win, the Wildcats are currently tied with Park for sixth in the conference table with one game left. With 13 points in league play, BU sits ahead of Graceland (12 pts), Central Methodist (11 pts) and Mount Mercy (11 pts) for the final spots of the eight-team Heart Tournament.

Baker will wrap up the regular season with a match on the road at Park on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2:30 p.m. in Parkville, Mo.

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