11/02/07The Baker men’s soccer team can breathe a sigh of relief, but only a small one.
The Wildcats took on one of the toughest schedules in the nation, finished 12-6 and collected enough Longo points to get a postseason bid.
In the final game of regular season play the ‘Cats hosted defending national champion Graceland University and honored their leaders Saturday at senior night at Liston Stadium.
The game was filled with quality soccer, but the result wasn’t what the ‘Cats had hoped for, freshman Carson Gill said.
“The game was fast-paced, good soccer,” he said. “However, the result is another story. I thought we matched them in basically every aspect of the game.”
Baker battled the Yellow Jackets throughout the first half in a defensive battle and going into break the match remained scoreless.
After only 45 seconds into the restart, the game took a turn in Graceland’s favor when the Yellow Jackets scored the first goal of the match.
Graceland would tack on two more goals in the second half and win the match 3-0.
Senior Travis Moore said the team learned a lot from this game and gained experience for the postseason.
“The game against Graceland was good for the team as a whole,” he said. “I think the team came out looking a little intimidated and didn’t play with the confidence we normally play with.”
The Wildcats might have given Graceland a little bit too much credit, freshman Tom Lowndes said.
“Although Graceland is a good team, they are in no way unbeatable,” he said.
Junior Matt Hamilton said Baker must now look toward the postseason and understand what it has accomplished.
“We improved a lot from last year and have given ourselves a shot to win our regional,” he said. “If we were given this opportunity at the beginning of the season, we for sure would have taken it.”
The Wildcats’ first regional game will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday at home.
Lowndes said he’s glad Baker will be hosting and would like to see lots of fans.
“Hopefully the Baker faithful will be there in full force in order to help us progress into the next round of the regional tournament.”
