Second-Half Rally Sends Top-Seeded Wildcats to Heart Semifinals

BALDWIN CITY - Fresh off clinching its first regular-season title since 2017, top-seeded Baker men's soccer battled back from an early second-half deficit Tuesday night to earn a 2-1 victory over No. 8 seed William Woods in the Heart Conference Tournament Quarterfinals at Hartley Field.

The win sends the Wildcats to the Heart Semifinals for the second straight season and marks the program's first home conference tournament victory since 2019. Baker will now host a semifinal matchup on Friday night at Hartley Field, taking on No. 4 William Penn, who earned a 3-0 win over Park in its quarterfinal match.

It was a quiet first half in Baldwin City, with four of the six total shots coming in the opening 16 minutes of play. Neither side created many dangerous chances, as both teams spent much of the period feeling each other out in the midfield. The Wildcats held a 5-1 advantage in shots at the break, while William Woods carried a 3-2 edge in corner kicks.

After the scoreless opening frame, the visitors struck first early in the second period on a goal off a rebounded shot in the 46th minute, snapping a 153-minute scoreless streak for the Baker defense after the Wildcats posted their ninth shutout of the season in Saturday's title-clinching win over Missouri Valley. The goal was just the second BU has allowed in its last five matches, as the Wildcats have not conceded multiple goals in a game since their road match against the Statesmen way back on September 20.

Still searching for a breakthrough, Baker found its moment in the 60th minute when standout midfielder Chafik El Idrissi, who was named Heart Player of the Year earlier in the day, was taken down inside the box to set up a penalty kick. Fellow First Team All-Heart honoree Akira Itadani buried the equalizer for his fifth goal of the year and third penalty conversion of the season, improving to a perfect 3-for-3 on PKs in 2025.

Momentum stayed with the Wildcats from there, and after a second yellow card left William Woods a man down in the 78th minute, Baker capitalized. On the ensuing sequence, Itadani delivered a curling corner kick to the back post that deflected off Julien DeAngelis and then off Utah Hester, who guided the ball across the line in the 80th minute to give BU the 2-1 lead. The goal marked Hester's second of the season and served as the difference-maker in BU's quarterfinal win.

Baker outshot the Owls 11-8 and held a 6-5 edge in corner kicks while goalkeeper Maxot Arystanov recorded two saves in the victory. The result also extended BU's unbeaten streak to 11 straight matches, its longest run since the 2016 team went unbeaten in 13 consecutive games.

The Wildcats will look to avenge their last defeat of the season - a 4-2 loss in Oskaloosa, Iowa, over a month and a half ago that ultimately sparked their current unbeaten run. That setback marked their only back-to-back losses of the regular season, and since then, Baker has gone 10-0-1 to claim the Heart regular season title and surge into the conference semifinals. The Statesmen are the reigning NAIA national runner-up after advancing to last year's title match.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, at Hartley Field, where the Wildcats will host William Penn with a chance to earn a spot in the Heart Championship for the first time since 2017.

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