Wildcats Drop Home Match to No. 18 Missouri Valley, 3-0

BALDWIN CITY - Facing its fourth ranked opponent of the season, Baker women's soccer came out on the wrong end of its midweek matchup against No. 18 Missouri Valley, falling 3-0 to the Vikings on Wednesday evening at Hartley Field.

MVC scored 12 minutes into the match, but was kept off the scoreboard for the rest of the first half before a pair of second-half goals sealed the road result for the Vikings.

Starting goalkeeper Avery Young and the Wildcats defense faced a 24-shot bombardment from the MVC attack with 16 of them coming in the first half. Young matched her season high with 12 saves, a mark she hit earlier this month in the match at Clarke.

BU was held to just one shot in the match which didn't come until the game's final 10 minutes with Emeil Bennett sending one towards goal. After being held without a set piece in the first half, the Wildcats earned a couple of corner kicks in the second half.

Missouri Valley scored the first goal on one of its seven corners in the match with Ashley Arribas finally cracking through after being denied by the BU defense on her first attempts.

After the game-opening goal, Young put on an excellent showing in goal to keep the Vikings out of the net for the rest of the first half. She collected eight of her saves in the first 45 minutes of action on Wednesday.

The Vikings notched their second goal quickly after the restart with a goal 30 seconds into the second half to give the visitors a two-goal advantage.

Arribas tacked on her second goal of the match to put the game out of reach in the 69th minute to give Baker its first loss at home since September.

With two matches left in the regular season, the Wildcats (7 pts), currently, sit at ninth in the Heart standings with a three-point gap between them and sixth-place Park (10 pts), putting them right on the bubble of the eight-team conference tournament.

Baker will host its home regular-season finale with a matchup against Grand View on Senior Night for BU. Kickoff from Hartley Field is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26.

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