No. 11 Buffaloes Men’s Soccer Coasts to Triumph over KCU

James Bakou had a standout night in the 6-0 win over Kentucky Christian, notching a goal and a pair of assists to help the Buffs’ cause
James Bakou had a standout night in the 6-0 win over Kentucky Christian, notching a goal and a pair of assists to help the Buffs’ cause
October 10, 2024

MILLIGAN, Tenn. – The No. 11-ranked Milligan University men's soccer team met up with Kentucky Christian University at Anglin Field on Wednesday evening for the first home midweek Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) tilt of the season. After 90 minutes, the Buffs came away with a solid 6-0 shutout of the Knights on home soil.

The Buffaloes remain unbeaten this season, sitting at 8-0-3 overall and 6-0-2 in the AAC.

Following the trends of the women's game before, this game began slowly, with no goals for the first 31 minutes of the tilt. Finally, Boikaego Mbaakanyi would receive a beautiful feed from James Bakou in the 32nd minute to put the first goal on the board. Then, a trio of goals in short order were scored in the 39th minute by Simen Haraldstad, the 41st minute by Elies Simo on another assist by Bakou, and in the 43rd minute by Bakou himself.

After the half, Milligan notched a 57th-minute goal by Marco Lattanzi, and followed that up with a mass substitution to the second unit, which grabbed the sixth and final goal of the night. Bracken Burns was responsible for the goal on an Ethan Hayes setup.

Milligan launched 28 shots in the win, and were on frame with 16 of them. Conversely, KCU attempted just one shot in the first half, and it did not test the Milligan keeper Ludvig Wille.

Wille and Mark Matthews split keeping duties in the evening, as Matthews came in with the mass substitutions and played the final 31 minutes of action without seeing a shot.

Another win for Milligan will usher them into a short hiatus, in which they have 10 days to prepare for a road tussle with Tennessee Wesleyan University in Athens on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m.