Pride bounce back in a big way to 5-0 win over RV Missouri Baptist

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Coming off of their largest margin of defeat under head coach Mike Paye, the Clarke University men's soccer team answered with their largest margin of victory since 2021 as they earned a 5-0 win over Missouri Baptist University Tuesday evening.

Playing nearly 20 minutes of scoreless soccer, Hector Medrano, fresh off of serving a red card suspension, was able to finish a rebound opportunity after an initial corner kick try to get the Pride on the board in the 19th minute on the striker's second goal of the season.

That first goal would open up the game a little bit as CU would take advantage a little over 10 minutes later when another corner kick would lead to a goal as Alonso Campos scored straight off of the corner kick, curling his right-footed strike into the net as it deflected off of a defender while going over the goal line.

In the 41st minute, Kenshin Yasujima would find an opening that lead to a two-on-one break with he and Luke Persenico streaking down the field against a single defender for the Spartans as Yasujima would beat the defender on the dribble and find the back of the net himself to make it 3-0 in the 41st minute, where the score would stay at halftime.

Less than 90 seconds into the second half, it would be Medrano again as this time he was fed by Persenico in the box, making it 4-0 and deflating any potential MBU second half rally before it could even get started.

Only playing in his third game of the season, Medrano now has recorded at least a point in each of those contests, with an assist in a 2-0 win over Judson, a goal in a 5-2 win over Park, and the two goals on Tuesday as the Pride have only been able to score three goals combined over the three games Medrano missed and have scored 12 goals in the three games in which he has played.

The final strike for Clarke came off the foot of Daniel Valverde as he was fed nicely behind the defense by Alfonso Gonzalez for Valverde to lob a shot over Spartan keeper Callum McKinlay for the fifth and final goal of the game.

Making his first start in net for the Pride was freshman Philipp Kohle as the Austria native was able to make six saves on his way to a shutout victory as Kohle was able to make three saves in the first half, including an in-tight header in the 21st minute and a one-on-one opportunity in the 27th minute with the game still at 1-0.

Clarke men's soccer will return to Heart of America Athletic Conference play on Friday for their Homecoming game against MidAmerica Nazarene University for a 5:30 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff at Burrows Field.