Wildcats Secure Playoff Berth with 2-0 Victory at Park

PARKVILLE, Mo. - Facing a must-win situation for the second straight year, Baker women's soccer came away with a 2-0 victory on the road at Park on Saturday in the final game of the regular season to secure a spot in the Heart Conference Tournament.

Emeil Bennett's header in the first five minutes of the match gave the Wildcats some early breathing room before Stella Jameson tacked on a second-half insurance goal to clinch BU's sixth straight conference tournament appearance.

Needing a win to make the tournament last year, Baker defeated Mount Mercy, 3-0 on the road in the 2023 regular-season finale.

"We knew it was win-or-go-home today, so we focused on being confident in the final third leading up to the game," said Wildcats head coach Sara Matthews. "We have been fairly solid defensively with Avery and our back line locking in lately, but we needed to score to win this game and we were able to just that."

Park finished with a 16-12 advantage in shots with 10 of them coming in a pressing second half for the Pirates. BU earned seven corner kicks compared to four for Park.

BU starting goalkeeper Avery Young earned her second straight clean sheet after shutting out Grand View at home last weekend.

Darcy Cato set up Bennett's game-opening goal after Cato worked her way through the Pirates defense and laid a cross over to Bennett whose header clanged off the bottom of the crossbar and into the back of the net to give BU a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the match.

The Pirates had a couple of close calls come up late in the first half, first with a shot that bounced off the post on a one-on-one opportunity in the 38th minute and then a long-range attempt a few minutes later that forced Young to make a diving stop and preserve Baker's 1-0 halftime lead.

With Park trying to find a second-half equalizer, it was an errant header by a Pirates defender that allowed Sidney Claeys to come up with the ball behind the backline. She fired a quick pass over to Jameson, who knocked in her second goal of the fall to make it a two-goal lead for Baker with over 25 minutes left in the game.

The Pirates had a few chances to put one in with a string of three consecutive shots in the 78th minute, including one that was denied by the pipes yet again with a shot ricocheting off the crossbar.

"We made sure we had a healthy balance of taking care of the details, working hard, but also loving everything about the game and each other and putting that positive energy into today," added Matthews. "Anything can happen in the conference playoffs and we'll work to continue this momentum through the playoffs. I'm very proud of our group!"

With the result, the Wildcats qualify for the conference tournament for the sixth straight season and will look for their first win in the playoffs since reaching the Heart Semifinals in back-to-back years in 2020-21 and 2021.

As the No. 7 seed, Baker will take on No. 2 Benedictine in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Heart Women's Soccer Conference Tournament, presented by WinWon, on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in Atchison, Kan.

#BakerBuildsChampions