Men’s Soccer Outlasts Culver-Stockton, 2-0 in Rainy Homecoming Victory

BALDWIN CITY - Despite rainy pitch conditions and a second-half weather delay, Baker men's soccer didn't let the weather dampen its Homecoming weekend as BU posted its second straight shutout with a 2-0 victory over Culver-Stockton on Saturday night at Hartley Field.

Akira Itadani's goal in the 16th minute gave Baker a key one-goal advantage as the rain started to come down late in the first half. Following a lightning delay in the second half, Reilly Marlow-Jones punched in an insurance goal for BU as it held on for its second straight conference win.

Baker tallied double-digit shots for the seventh time this year and outshot Culver-Stockton, 15-6 with Itadani and Marlow-Jones each sending four shots apiece. BU earned a season-high seven corner kicks with five of them coming in the first half of action.

After a scoreless first 15 minutes, Baker's game-opening goal came on a nice run towards the box by Ian Waindim, who was just able to sneak a pass over to Itadani and the New Zealand midfielder sent a skipping strike past the C-SC keeper for his third goal of the season.

With the rain picking up and Baker taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, the game came to a halt early in the second half with a 45-minute lightning delay.

Following the stoppage, Marlow-Jones provided some lightning of his own in the 64th minute with a burst through the C-SC box that saw him finish it off with a poke to the right side of the net to make it a 2-0 lead for BU.

It was Marlow-Jones' team-leading fifth goal of the year as Baker's other Kiwi ranks among the top five in the Heart with 13 points in his first season at BU.

The intensity reached a peak in the final 20 minutes of play with Culver-Stockton looking for a late rally and both teams racking up the fouls and cards. BU was awarded a penalty in the 84th minute, but Falco Dijkhuis' first PK attempt of the fall clanged off the crossbar as the final score settled at a 2-0 result for the home-sided Wildcats.

With back-to-back wins at home this week, BU moved to 7-2-0 overall and picked up its second conference win of the season after a thrilling 1-0 over victory over No. 10 MidAmerica Nazarene on Wednesday.

They have won six of their last seven matches and both of their losses this year have come against top-25 opponents in No. 24 Cumberlands, who sits at No. 12 in the latest NAIA rankings, and No. 8 William Penn.

Baker will take a brief break from Heart action with its final non-conference match coming against Mission University (previously Baptist Bible) on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. in Baldwin City.

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