Eagles Drop a Tough Decision to Missouri Valley

Kansas City, MO - Missouri Valley College defeated Avila University 3-2 on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 26) in the conference opener for both schools. In a match that saw plenty of excitement and physical play, Missouri Valley scored the deciding goal with 38 minutes remaining. The Eagles played their best game of the season but could not get the tying goal to find the net. Missouri Valley Goalkeeper Igor Lima made a couple of tremendous saves along with a defender clearing a ball off the line with his head from a rip by Ryan Wohlgemuth.

Avila (3-6, 0-1) outshot the Vikings 18-15 and won the corner kick battle 5-1.

Coach Clements once again was pleased with the passion and heart the kids showed this afternoon, "Soccer can be a very frustrating and tough game to understand as today we did everything we could do to win this match but unfortunately came up short. Although we have plenty of work to do, I am really proud of our kids for playing a complete game and we gave ourselves plenty of chances to win this one. The players fought to the final whistle and although we lost, I am pleased to open conference play with this type of match. We need to bounce back quick as we have a very tough and highly ranked Baker team to play on Tuesday."

Ray Dlugolecki played a great 90 minutes in the net recording 5 saves.

Avila looks for its first conference victory on Tuesday (Sept. 29) in Baldwin City, KS when they face #4 Baker University. The match is set for an 8 PM start at Liston Stadium on the campus of Baker.