Women’s Soccer Delivers Senior Night Rout with 5-0 Win over Graceland

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – The Baker women's soccer team used a five-goal performance to roll past visiting Graceland, 5-0 on Saturday evening in the home finale as the Wildcats celebrated Senior Night at Hartley Field.

Prior to the match, Baker honored seven seniors for their contribution to the Wildcats women's soccer program. Those seniors included Taylor Evans, Aubree Koren, Annika Munch, Cate Nearmyer, Ashley Paulick, Kendall Staley and Bella Wiles.

The Wildcats dominated this one for most of the match, finishing with a commanding 19-3 advantage in shots and a 9-1 margin on corner kicks. Nearmyer notched a pair of goals between the end of the first half and the start of the second to give the Leawood, Kan. native a memorable Senior Night outing.

After it looked like both teams would head to the halftime locker room scoreless, Nearmyer delivered the game's first goal with just eight seconds left on the clock to break the deadlock. She scored off of a BU corner after Munch's cross bounced around a few Yellowjackets defenders before landing at the feet of Nearmyer who fired in the goal to give Baker a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Then, following the intermission, Nearmyer netted her second goal just over a minute into the second half, this one also coming on a deflected corner ball to earn her first brace of the season.

Baker continued to execute off its set pieces with another corner kick leading to BU's third goal after Sargent played the ensuing cross back into the box and Lydia Brinker knocked it in to put the Wildcats up, 3-0.

In the 57th minute, Caitlin Youles scored her first goal of the season after collecting a ricocheted ball and going top shelf over the GU keeper to cap a 12-minute scoring barrage for the Wildcats that saw them take a 4-0 lead early in the second half.

With the final seconds of the match ticking down, Baker closed out the second half as it did the first with its ninth corner kick of the game resulting in a last-second goal by Sargent - a fifth-year senior for BU - to garnish the Wildcats' 5-0 victory.

It marked the fourth shutout of the year posted by the Baker defense, including back-to-back clean sheets at home after a 2-0 win against Park on Oct. 11. BU keeper Jorja Martin stopped the lone shot on goal sent her way with an excellent one-on-one save in the first half of play.

Nearmyer's brace was the second multi-goal performance by a Wildcats player this year after Aubree Koren scored a pair of goals against McPherson on Aug. 30. Along with Youles, it was also the first goals of 2023 for Brinker and Sargent to help Baker match its most goals in a game this season.

The Wildcats will close out their regular season on the road with matches at MidAmerica Nazarene and Mount Mercy next week, beginning with a matchup against the Pioneers on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. in Olathe, Kan.

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