The men’s and women’s soccer teams continued their seasons this last week with two more games each. On Wednesday, both teams visited the Benedictine College Ravens. Saturday the Wildcats home opener featured Grand View University. Both games were low scoring affairs as the Wildcats settled for the split on Wednesday in Atchison, Kan. Both teams dropped their home opener in a similar fashion with a 1-0 game.

The women’s team continued their brilliance on defense with another shutout win last Wednesday against the Ravens. The first half was paced by the Ravens with 7 shots compared to the Wildcats’ 5 shots. The Wildcats were also forced to make 5 saves in the half compared to 1 for the Ravens. 

Baker flipped the script and turned up the pressure in the second half. In the 67th minute, the Wildcats finally broke the tie as a Monique Diaz header off of the corner kick found the back of the net. The assist came courtesy of defender Kaosi Ude. The Wildcats finished outpacing the Ravens 11-10 in shots and held on to the 1-0 victory.  

The men’s team took to the field to finish the second leg of the doubleheader. This physical contest turned into a foul dispute as the night wore on.

 Baker finished with 20 fouls and 3 yellow cards as the Ravens finished with 9 fouls and 4 yellow cards. The physicality caused a lot of frustration on both ends all night. Despite the fouling, the Wildcats outshot the Ravens 10-8. Baker also put 2 fewer shots on goal which may have been the difference, as goals in the 5th and 62nd minutes were the difference.

Both teams moved on to Saturday for the home opener against the Grand View Vikings. The Vikings men’s and women’s team came into the game winless. Things changed Saturday night for the Vikings out of Iowa.

The Baker Wildcats women’s team dropped their first game of the year after controlling the entirety of the game. They allowed their first goal of the young season at the 64:08 mark, this remained the Vikings’ only shot on goal all game. The Wildcats outshot the Vikings 16-4 and 7-1 on shots on goal. This loss is a tough one to swallow considering the pace and how the Wildcats outplayed the Vikings.

The Baker men’s team was looking to cap the night off and get back to .500. This game went deep into the night as it went into OT to settle the game. This competitive matchup was near even on the shot chart with the 10-9 advantage going to the Vikings. Shots on goal in the long game ended up even at 3 apiece.

The two biggest differences in this game came down to a 2-0 shot advantage in OT for the Vikings. This led to a 100th-minute goal from forward Aaron Williams of the Grand View Vikings. The second biggest difference in the game came to fouls. The same issue that hurt the Wildcats against Benedictine came back to hurt them in this contest too. Baker had 24 fouls compared to just 14 for Grand View. Eventually, these fouls added up and hurt them in the long run.

Both teams will be in action this week on Wednesday, September 30th at home against MidAmerica Nazarene and Saturday, October 3rd on the road against William Penn. Both of these matchups will be in doubleheader format with the women’s game starting at approximately 5 p.m. and men’s at 7:30 p.m.