Men’s Soccer claims 2023 AAC regular season championship

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (October 28, 2023) – The Milligan University men's soccer team clinched the 2023 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) regular season title with a 10-0 victory at Pikeville on Saturday evening.

Milligan caps its regular season with a 13-2-3 record and an unblemished 10-0-3 AAC league mark. The Buffs claim their second-straight AAC title and the third in four seasons. After a 2-2 start, Milligan closed the regular season with a 14-game unbeaten streak. Pikeville concludes its season with a 5-10-3 record, 2-8-3 AAC.

Since the AAC was formed in 2000, Milligan has topped the league table seven times (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2020, 2022 and 2023). The Buffs earn one of the AAC's two automatic bids to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, marking Milligan's fourth-straight national championship appearance. With 10 goals in the victory, the Buffs set Milligan's all-time team scoring record with 77 goals.

The Buffs sent a barrage of shots in the opening half hour of action and scored the opening goal in the 25th minute with Inaki Moreno centering a pass to Alex Panner who blasted a shot off the Pikeville keeper and over the goal line to give Milligan a 1-0 lead.

Greg Anderson put the Buffs ahead 2-0 in the 29th minute with a header. Moreno served a free kick into the box where it was headed to the left post by Elies Simo and Anderson headed home his sixth tally of the season.

Simo headed in the Buffs' third goal of the day off a corner kick by Moreno in the 36th minute.

Milligan extended its lead to 4-0 in the opening five minutes of the second half. James Bakou ran onto the ball up the right sideline, attacked to the endline and centered a pass to Santiago Corral who tapped in his 14th goal of the year.

Panner cashed in for the second time in the 57th minute off a grounded pass from Boikaego Mbaakanyi to grow the lead to 5-0.

Albert Montragull found Mbaakanyi for his second tally in the 68th minute. Moreno's score in the 70th minute off a lead pass by Martin Torres put the Buffs up 7-0. Moreno found the back of the net twice more in the 76th and 79th minutes and Asa Kai Blake added a score in the final minute to finish off the 10-0 victory.

The Buffs outshot Pikeville 28-2 (21-1 SOG) and held an 11-3 edge in corner kicks. Adria Alles and Joseph Galindo shared the shutout win.

The Buffs host an AAC Tournament quarterfinal against the No. 8 seed next Friday at 5:00 p.m. The conference will announce the matchups after the regular season ends tomorrow.