No. 12 Men's Soccer Tops Cumberland, Advances in National Tournament

Marshall, Mo., (Nov. 18, 2023)- The No. 12 seed Missouri Valley College men's soccer team hosted Cumberland (Tenn.) in the second round of the 2023 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Saturday afternoon inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.  The Vikings built up an early lead, and pulled away in the second half in a 6-3 win, advancing to the third round.

Missouri Valley held the better of possession early, and created the first chance on goal with nine minutes played in the contest.  Junior Forward Sam Green (Bromley, England) and Sophomore Midfielder Julius Kruger (Berlin, Germany) worked together to set up Junior Midfielder Yoshiki Igarashi (Tokyo, Japan) with a chance from the top of the penalty box.  Igarashi sent his shot to the lower-left corner and past the keeper into goal to give the Vikings a 1-0 advantage.  The lead grew just over two minutes later, as Green assisted on another goal, this time to Freshman Forward Kerim Akpinar (Bremen, Germany) to make it a 2-0 score.  The Vikings continued to pressure Cumberland, and worked another goal, midway through the half.  Green registered his third assist as Junior Midfielder Malik Hasanovikj (Skopje, North Macedonia) put in a header off a corner kick to make it 3-0.  The Phoenix got one of those goals back just over one minute after the restart to trim the deficit down to 3-1.  The two teams traded possession through the rest of play in the half, and MVC went into halftime holding the two goal advantage.

Play in the second half opened with an early chance created by Cumberland, which got past the keeper and into goal, cutting the gap down to 3-2 with five minutes off the clock.  Missouri Valley came back with more play towards the Cumberland goal.  Eventually, Senior Defender Kazuki Hashimoto (Yokohama, Japan) and Junior Defender Jacob Adams (Nottingham, England) teamed up to give Akpinar another quality chance, which he scored for his second goal to push the lead out to 4-2 near the 63-minuite mark.  Moments after play resumed, the Phoenix were called for a foul in the penalty box.  Green stepped up to take the kick, and scored on the PK to make it a 5-2 advantage.  Cumberland was held to without a shot on goal over the next stretch of play, and a Phoenix player was shown a red card with less than 10 minutes remaining in the contest.  The ensuing free kick was taken from 14 yards out by Hasanovikj, who scored on the attempt to put the lead at 6-2.  Cumberland scored late in the game, but the Vikings finished out a 6-3 victory to advance in the National tournament.

Akpinar scored two goals, and now has nine goals and three game-winning goals on the season.  Hasanovikj added two goals and now has three goals on the season.  Green scored one goal, giving him 16 on the season, and totaled three assists, moving his season total to 11.  Green has 43 points on the season.  Igarashi scored his fourth goal.  Hashimoto now has three assists, Adams added his first assist and Kruger his second assist on the season.  Sophomore Goalkeeper Vicente Benitez Delgado (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) made one save in goal.  Missouri Valley held a 12-7 advantage in shots, and a 6-3 edge in corner kicks.

The win moves Missouri Valley to 14-5 on the season, while Cumberland finishes with a 12-5-3 record.

Missouri Valley advances to the third round of the National tournament, and to the National site, with games being played at Scheels Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kan.  The Vikings will play in the third round, Monday, Nov. 27.  The team will play the winner of the No. 5 St. Thomas (Fla.)/Menlo (Calif.) match.  Game time will be announced by the NAIA.  Missouri Valley advances to the National site for the tenth time in program-history, and for the seventh-straight season.

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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.