Baldwin City, KS-On a chilly Saturday night in October, Graceland’s men’s soccer was set to play for the conference championship against Baker University at Baker. Graceland would need the win to secure the Championship outright.

In the first half, Graceland controlled most of the possession time on the clock. The Yellowjackets did a great job of keeping the ball on the Baker end of the field. The men played fierce and communicated very effectively as they moved around the field playing each position wisely. Even though they were playing with precision, they were not able to record as many shots on goal as they may have liked to. Baker had fewer shots on goal then Graceland in the first half and goalie Carlos Ortiz(Bogota, Colombia) showed great focus on those goal saving shots. At the end of the first half both teams were scoreless. As the night grew colder and the second half of the game was underway, Graceland showed great hustle and executed the first goal of the game in only forty seven seconds. It was a corner kick that bounced off the hands of the Baker goalie and kicked in by Orrin Branker(Trinidad & Tobago) putting the Yellowjackets up one to nothing. Unlike the first half, in the second half the ball was possessed by Baker in Graceland’s territory. Baker tried and tried to score on Graceland’s defense but fell short due to great communication by the defense and goalkeeper.

Graceland did have a number of shots on goal and with eight fifty two remaining, Hunter Re(Overland Park, KS) received the ball ten feet from the goal. With a two on one coverage situation he passed the ball back to center field and Francisco Serrata(Los Fresnos, TX) who belted the ball off a Baker defender for the second score of the game. Graceland continued to play tough and again took control of possession time nearing the end of the second half. With two twenty six remaining, Kevin Souter(Portsoy, Scotland) captured the ball twenty five yards from the goal where he scored the third and final goal of the game. Throughout the game the Yellowjackets played relentless both on offense and defense. The team showed why they deserved the conference championship.

Co-Captain Souter commented, “It was a great team performance tonight, this gamed showed how bad we wanted to be conference champions. It was our main objective to this point. This was a great effort by our team against a competitive conference program. I feel it showed that we are a tough team to play against.” Co-Captain Ruben Ruelas(Matamoras, MEX) added, “This is such a great feeling, I have thought about this moment over and over in my head. We worked so hard during preseason and I am glad that we can finally enjoy this moment.” When asking assistant coach Angel Monroy about tonight’s victory, he said, “It was great winning 3-0. Tonight’s conference championship was the first step of a three step process and I look forward to playing our next home game.”