MNU Falls 1-0 in Tourney Final

In a battle of Top-10 teams, the #7 MNU Men's Soccer team lost 1-0 to #8 Baker this afternoon in the HAAC Tournament Final. MNU defeated Baker in double overtime in their earlier meeting this year. The loss at home snaps MNU's home unbeaten streak at 22 games, which dates back to 2011. With the win, Baker will advance to the NAIA National Tournament. MNU will wait to find out if they will receive an At-Large bid. That announcement will be made on Sunday evening.
 
Typically in the post season, the team that capitalizes on their opportunities is the team that will win. Baker did that and MNU did not. In the first half, MNU had 3 incredible chances to score. Matt Bickley, the Wildcat's goalkeeper, came up with 3 great saves to keep MNU off the board. In the first half alone, MNU outshot Baker 10-1, however the game was tied 0-0 going into the halftime break.
 
The second half was a bit more balanced with Baker really pushing forward a bit more and MNU was struggling to gain control of the game like they did in the first half. Neither team was producing much in the way of scoring chances, and Baker registered their first shot on goal just after the 60 minute mark.  MNU only had 3 shots total in the second half. The breakthrough for Baker came in the 71st minute when MNU failed to clear a corner kick and it was smashed home from close range. Just a few minutes later MNU squandered yet another chance in front of the goal. MNU spent the remaining minutes in the Baker half, but the Wildcats did a great job defensively and limited MNU's opportunities to set pieces and throw-ins.
 
For the game MNU outshot Baker 13-5, with SOG being 6-2. Corner kicks were 9-3 in MNU's favor. Bickley registered 6 saves for Baker. Chris Eriksson had 1 save for MNU. Baker moves its record to 14-5-2. MNU is now 14-4-2 on the season. Coach Wardlaw had this to say after the game, "I thought our team played well today, especially in the first half. In big games like this you are going to get punished if you don't take your chances. Baker did that and they deserved the result. Hopefully we will get a bid to the National Tournament. We have had a great year and I believe this team can still accomplish great things."