OLATHE, Kansas -- The Rocky Mountain College men's soccer team suffered its first loss of the spring season on Thursday, falling to MidAmerica Nazarene (Kansas) 5-1 in the opening round of the NAIA national tournament.
Vitus Voitl scored two first-half goals as MNU built a 3-0 cushion at the break. All three MNU goals in the first half came in the span of less than five minutes of game action. Voitl scored his first goal in the 22nd minute, Nicolas Theberge added a goal less than a minute later and Voitl found the net again in the 26th minute.
MNU pushed its advantage to 5-0 with goals from Rick Hovinga and Jayedon Manswell in the second half. Rocky finally got on the board with a Walt Hollensteiner goal in the 88th minute.
The five goals allowed by the Battlin' Bears were more than they allowed in their entire regular season. Rocky outscored opponents 29-4 during an 8-0 run through the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
Rocky out-shot MNU 11-7 in the first half and 16-12 for the match, and the Bears had 12 corner kicks compared to just four for MNU. But MNU blocked eight shots and goalkeeper Andrea Dorella had four first-half saves, including a stop of a penalty kick by Cascade Conference player of the year Milo Downey.
Rocky's season ends at 8-1, while MNU will next face Bellevue (Neb.).
