Double Overtime Heartbreaker Brings Wildcats’ Season to an End in NAIA Round of 16

WICHITA, Kan. - Baker men's soccer fell, 2-1 to No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan in double overtime in the Round of 16 at the 2024 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship here Tuesday afternoon in Wichita, Kan.

After a scoreless 85 minutes, the two teams scored three goals in the span of 16 minutes with Reilly Marlow-Jones breaking the deadlock in the 86th minute before the Eagles notched the equalizer with less than three minutes left to send the match to overtime.

With neither side scoring in the first 10-minute extra period, OKWU scored the game-winning goal just two minutes into the second overtime to bring Baker's postseason run to a close.

The Wildcats battled against a relentless Eagles attack that totaled 25 shots and 14 corner kicks with 10 of their corner set pieces coming after halftime. Meanwhile, BU had just four shots in the match and three corner kicks with its best chances coming in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Marlow-Jones had two of the shots for BU, while Parker Hurla and Evans Osei Amankwah each tallied a shot as well.

Oklahoma Wesleyan peppered the Wildcats' starting keeper Christian Villegas with 11 shots in the first half. Villegas recorded seven saves overall for the match, keeping the Eagles off the scoreboard for most of the afternoon.

A ball sent forward by Utah Hester triggered the action for Baker's game-opening goal with Akira Itadani eventually coming away with it. He slipped a pass through to Osei Amankwah in the box who immediately played over to Marlow-Jones and the BU forward hooked a shot just inside the post to put the Wildcats in front, 1-0.

Less than two minutes later, OKWU tied the match in the 88th to spoil the Wildcats' late goal and send the match to extras with a 1-1 score.

Osei Amankwah registered the only shot for BU in the first overtime on an attempt that was blocked by the OKWU defense.

Shortly after kickoff of the second overtime, the Eagles notched the game-winner with a long cross sent into the box to their first-team all-conference forward Pol Mur who finished it off to give OKWU the Round of 16 win.

The Wildcats (13-8-1) close out a 2024 campaign that saw them win 13 games, earn a playoff victory and reach the NAIA Round of 16 all for the first time since 2019. With a 5-5-1 conference record, BU made it to the Heart Semifinals and had three players - Itadani, Marlow-Jones and Falco Dijkhuis - receive all-conference honors with Marlow-Jones also being named Heart Freshman of the Year.

Baker defeated No. 15 UC-Merced, 4-0 at home in the second round of the NAIA playoffs in the first-ever postseason game held at Hartley Field.

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