Warriors Edge Missouri Baptist on the Road

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Midland University hit the road to St. Louis, for what they hope will be the first of two trips this month, to face off against Missouri Baptist University. The teams took to the turf at Spartan Field on Friday in a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) showdown. The Warriors held on for the 5-4 victory to improve to 3-8 overall and 1-2 in the KCAC. The Spartans fall to 2-9 and 1-3.

Carson Meier opened the game's scoring as he found the back of the net off an assist from Landon Scialla just past the midway point of the first quarter. Missouri Baptist responded with its first goal with just over two minutes to go, knotting the game at 1-1 after the first quarter.

In the second, the Spartans took their first lead as they score in the opening minutes. Moments later though, Joshua Pereira scored the first of his two goals on the night, unassisted, with 10:43 to go in the half. His second goal, which gave Midland a 3-2 lead into the locker room, was assisted by Nick Luedke with 4:43 on the game clock.

After the break, the Warriors increased their lead with goals from Sayer Kuenzi and Luedke in the first five minutes of the third. Luedke assisted Kuenzi's score while Dominic Jochim picked up the helper on the other goal.

In the final six-plus minutes of the third, the Spartans came roaring back with two goals within minutes of each other. They pulled within a goal, 5-4, with exactly five minutes on the quarter clock.

Midland's defense tightened up, as did Missouri Baptist's, in the final 15 minutes of action. The Warriors outshot the Spartans 8-3 in the final period but neither team could yield an insurance or game-tying goal.

For the game, the Warriors had 32 shots compared to 25 for the Spartans. Scialla decisively won the face-off battle for the Warriors, taking 12 of 13 chances. Defensively, CJ Salinas had 8 saves on the 12 shots that reached his level to earn the win in net.

Midland (3-8, 1-2 KCAC) will wrap up the regular season with a home contest on Sunday when they host Saint Mary (0-9, 0-3 KCAC). The game, which was rescheduled due to freezing temperatures last month, is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start at Heedum Field. Prior to the game, the Warriors will honor their 2023 seniors.