No. 9 Men's Soccer Pulls Away From Bethel in Shutout Victory

Marshall, Mo., (Sept. 4, 2024)- The 9 Missouri Valley College men's soccer team played its first game at home, Wednesday evening, hosting Bethel (Kan.) in a non-conference game inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.  The Vikings scored five goals in the second half, and earned a 7-0 shutout victory.

The first half began with the two teams trading possession through the opening 14-minutes of play.  Bethel created the first quality chance on goal, on a breakaway opportunity.  Junior Goalkeeper Cristobal Benitez Delgado (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) made one save, and Senior Defender Jacob Adams (Nottingham, England) blocked another shot from going into goal to help keep the contest scoreless.  The Vikings responded with a shot on goal from Sophomore Forward Kerim Akpinar (Bremen, Germany) near the 17-minute mark, but the attempt was saved.  Benitez Delgado was called on for another save less than two minutes later.  Possession was traded again over the next nine minutes, until Missouri Valley broke the scoreless tie.  Senior Defender Kazuki Hashimoto (Yokohama, Japan) set up Akpinar with a shot that went to the far post from ten yards out, and put MVC on top, 1-0.  A second goal was scored six minutes later, as Senior Midfielder Yoshiki Igarashi (Tokyo, Japan) and Akpinar combined in setting up Senior Forward Sam Green (London, England) with a wide open shot.  Green put his attempt just inside the right post from the top of the box, and the advantage sat at 2-0.  Akpinar came close to extending the lead with less than six minutes remaining, but his shot was saved.  The Vikings went into halftime holding the two goal advantage.

Play in the second half started with an early opportunity for Missouri Valley.  The Bethel keeper and a defender collided, and a loose ball was possessed by Senior Forward Malik Hasanovikj (Skopje, North Macedonia).  Hasanovikj then dribbled 20 yards towards an open goal, and scored to make it a 3-0 lead with just over four minutes off the clock.  The Vikings dominated possession through much of the half, and added another goal near the 59-minute mark.  Green and Freshman Midfielder Rodrigo Diaz (Chicago, Ill.) combined on an assist on an Junior Defender Ilian Stoehr (Frankfurt, Germany) goal to make it 4-0.  Nearly seven minutes later, Junior Forward Leul Alfagame (Madrid, Spain) was set up by Freshman Midfielder Ethan Quarchioni (Bournemouth, England) with a shot from the top of the box, which went into goal, as the lead grew to 5-0.  Bethel was forced to finish the match down one player after a red card was shown with 20-minutes to go in the game.  Two more goals were scored, both by Freshman Forward Oliver Baladi (Frederikssund, Denmark) in the final 11-minutes of play.  The first came on a bad clearance from the Threshers, while a cross from Senior Defender Alejandro Lujan (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) was flicked to the center of the box by Junior Midfielder Julius Kruger (Berlin, Germany), and Baladi scored again, this time with under five minutes remaining.  Senior Goalkeeper Marcal Aspas (Barcelona, Spain) needed to make one save late in the second half to preserve the shutout, as Missouri Valley won, 7-0.

Baladi led with two goals, while both Green and Akpinar registered one goal and one assist each.  Hasanovikj, Stoehr and Alfagame added one goal apiece.  Lujan, Kruger, Igarashi, Hashimoto, Diaz and Quarchioni all had one assist.  Green sits at 99 points in his career at Missouri Valley.  Benitez Delgado made two saves, and Aspas added one save to record the combined shutout.  Missouri Valley held a 15-6 advantage in total shots, and an 11-2 edge in corner kicks.  The seven goals scored is the most of the program since a 12-1 win over Culver-Stockton (Mo.), back on Oct. 30, 2021.

Missouri Valley improves to 2-1 with the win, while Bethel falls to 0-3.

Up next, the men's soccer team travels to Fremont, Neb., for a non-conference game with Midland (Neb.), Saturday at 5 p.m.

Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.

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