A home field advantage wasn’t enough to give the Baker University men’s soccer team a victory in its first Heart of America Athletic Conference game against Central Methodist University Sunday.

The 2-1 defeat dropped Baker’s overall record on the season to 3-4-3 and improved the Eagles’ record to 7-2-1 and 1-0 in conference play.

It was a back and forth battle on both sides of the field for most of the first half until the 36th minute when Ricardo Valsien was able to finish a shot past junior goalkeeper Matt Bickley to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Kendall Campbell increased the deficit to 2-0 in the 50th minute when he connected with teammate Thyago Catharino’s corner kick.

Five minutes later, junior Ben Coyle threw the ball in from the sideline, allowing freshman Amer Didic to score Baker’s first goal of the night and his first goal of the season.

The Wildcats fought for the remaining 35 minutes of the game, but were unable to finish a play past CMU’s defense, which held them to only two shots taken in the second half. Seven shots were taken overall by the Wildcats with only one being on goal.

The loss came just two days after BU defeated Mid-America Christian University 5-1 Friday, when the Wildcats smudged the Evangels' perfect record on the season.<br/>

Baker had many opportunities for goals early in the game, but seemed to find the ball hitting the goalposts easier than hitting the back of the net. This all changed shortly after the Wildcats gave up one goal to the Evangels, shot by Kevin Cabello in the 21st minute of the game.

Baker began its scoring run in the 35th minute. Crossed in from senior Nick Byarlay on the right side, junior Andy Griffin was able to get his head on the ball and send it past MACU goalkeeper Tyler McIntosh to tie the game 1-1.

The crowd began chanting Griffin’s name four minutes later as he ripped a shot off right in front of the goal, scoring and giving Baker the 2-1 lead going into halftime.

The second half displayed intense competition as the Evangels came out ready to start a comeback. They were unable to stop the Wildcats, though, who were up 3-1 as of the 62nd minute of the game when senior Odaine Sinclair beat McIntosh at the top of the box and placed the ball swiftly in the back of the goal.

Freshman Diego Ordonez scored his first career goal in the 76th minute of the game to give Baker a three-point advantage that would soon become an even bigger lead after senior Sean McAlister threw the ball in to senior Richard Klein, who knocked the ball in for the final goal of the game.

Baker outshot the Evangels 26-9 with 11 of those shots being on goal.

Baker will have face its next conference opponent at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Kansas City, Mo., against Avila University.