No. 11 Men's Soccer Uses Big Second Half in Win Over Clarke

Dubuque, Iowa, (Sept. 21, 2024)- The Nationally ranked Missouri Valley College soccer teams traveled to Dubuque, Iowa, for a Saturday afternoon Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader against Clarke (Iowa).  The No. 23 women's team posted a shutout in a 0-0 tie.  The No. 11 men's team used a big second half to pull away from Clarke, 8-0.

The men's game started with the first chance on goal created by Clarke, with just over one minute played, forcing Senior Goalkeeper Marcal Aspas (Barcelona, Spain) into an early save.  Missouri Valley answered back with the better of possession over the next few minutes, and eventually created its first quality chance.  Junior Forward Leul Alfagame (Madrid, Spain), set up Sophomore Forward Kerim Akpinar (Bremen, Germany) with a shot close to goal, and Akipnar put the ball into the net to give MVC a 1-0 lead with nearly eight minutes played.  The Vikings added to their advantage three minutes later, as Senior Midfielder Yoshiki Igarashi (Tokyo, Japan) assisted on a Sam Green goal to make it a 2-0 score.  The teams traded possession through much of the remaining time in the half.  Only one more chance on goal was created, coming from Akpinar near the 26-minute mark, and his shot was saved by the CU keeper.  Missouri Valley held the Pride to only that early shot on goal, and went into halftime on top, 2-0.

Play in the second half opened with Clarke creating a chance quickly.  Aspas came up with another save, to keep MVC at the two-goal advantage.  With just over seven minutes gone in the half, Senior Forward Malik Hasanovic (Skopje, North Macedonia) created a breakaway opportunity on goal, and scored on the chance to make it 3-0.  Just over seven minutes later, Hasanovic had another one-on-one opportunity with the CU keeper, and scored again to put the lead at 4-0.  Moments after the restart, the Vikings tacked on another goal, as Akpinar assisted on a goal from Igarashi to put the advantage at 5-0.  A fourth goal in the half came near the 67-minute mark, this time on an own-goal from Clarke, followed less than three minutes later by a goal from Senior Forward Luka Perendija (Obrenovac, Serbia) to make it a 7-0 game.  Missouri Valley tacked on one more goal in the closing moments of the contest, as Junior Forward Shiko Kiyomiya (Tokyo, Japan) made it an 8-0 final score.

Hasanvoic led with two goals and one assist, while both Akpinar and Igarashi had one goal and one assist apiece.  Green, Perendjia and Kiyomiya each had one goal, while Alfagame added one assist.  Aspas made three saves in goal and helped secure a fifth shutout on the season, all coming in the last seven games.  The eight goals scored is the most for the program since a 12-1 win over Culver-Stockton (Mo.), back on Oct. 30, 2021.

The win moves Missouri Valley to 6-1-1 overall and 3-0 in the Heart.  Clarke drops to 3-2 on the season and 1-2 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking soccer teams host Culver-Stockton (Mo.) in a Family Weekend doubleheader, Sept. 28.  Women's game starts at 5 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m., inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.

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.