No. 5 Men's Soccer Secures Heart Title in Tie at Graceland

Lamoni, Iowa, (Oct. 26, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College men's and women's soccer teams traveled to Lamoni, Iowa for a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader with Graceland (Iowa), Saturday evening.  The No. 18 women's soccer team held off Graceland for a 3-1 win to capture an undefeated and outright regular season title.  The No. 5 men's team used a late equalizer to tie the Yellowjackets, 1-1, and secure a third-straight Heart championship.

The men's game started with an early chance on goal created by Missouri Valley, which was saved by the Graceland keeper with six minutes off the clock.  The two teams traded chances over the next stretch of play, until Junior Goalkeeper Cristobal Benitez Delgado (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) made his first save of the game near the 28-minute mark.  Both teams struggled to create chances over the final stretch of play in the half, and went into the break scoreless.

Play in the second half opened with Graceland creating a number of chances.  Benitez Delgado made three saves in the first three minutes of play after the restart.  Senior Midfielder Yoshiki Igarashi (Tokyo, Japan) put the first shot on goal for MVC in the half, which was saved just over 10-minutes into play.  The Yellowjackets moved in front near the 57-minute mark on a goal to make it a 1-0 score.  Benitez Delgado came up with another save eight minutes later to keep MVC at the one-goal deficit.  The Vikings hit the crossbar on a shot four minutes later, but continued to trail through the final minutes of the contest.  With less than two minutes remaining on the clock, Senior Forward Sam Green (London, England) broke through in the GU box, and beat the keeper with a shot for the equalizing goal.  The Vikings closed out the rest of the game, and earned a 1-1 tie to secure the outright conference title.

Green scored the tying goal, and now has 13 goals and 29 points on the season.  Benitez Delgado made five saves.  Missouri Valley got off seven shots and held a 5-3 edge in corner kicks.

Missouri Valley finishes its regular season with a 13-3-1 overall record and a 10-0-1 record in the Heart.  The team secured an outright Heart regular season championship, the first regular season conference title since 1993.  This also clinches an automatic berth into the 2024 NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship, the fourth-straight appearance for the program.  Graceland drops to 6-9-3 on the season and 3-7-1 in the Heart.

Missouri Valley improves to 12-1-3 overall and 8-0-2 in the Heart.  The team secured a third-straight conference championship, the seventh under Head Coach Vladimir Simic, and the ninth in program-history.  Graceland 7-5-4 3-5-2.

This is the second time in college-history that both men's and women's teams won the Heart regular season title, as both won back in 1993.  Up next, the men's soccer team will close out the regular season with a Heart contest against Benedictine (Kan.), Friday at 3 p.m., inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.  The women's team will next play in the Heart Postseason Tournament as the No. 1 seed, and will host a first round game, Nov. 5.

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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.