Men's Soccer 8/30/2025 11:09:00 PM Brandon Stinson | Sports Information & Media Coordinator Late Match Heroics Lead to 4-4 Draw For Rocky Men’s Soccer Against #9 Missouri Valley College BALDWIN CITY, Kan.- A back-and-forth affair in Kansas saw the Battlin' Bears score the game-tying goal in the final thirty seconds to draw with ninth-ranked Missouri Valley College. After starting 12 games in his freshman season, sophomore Luke Tooze tallied his first two career goals on Saturday evening, the second of which came with just 16 seconds remaining on the clock to secure a draw with the ninth-ranked Vikings. Rocky's four goals on Saturday mark the most for the Battlin' Bear men in a non-conference matchup since September of 2022 (7-1 victory over McPherson College). How It Happened Rocky was the first to strike in the first six minutes of action, as Aaron Lawson found space downfield and threaded a pass into the box for Lorenzo Klamler, who fired a shot past the Viking keeper for his first goal of the season to give the Battlin' Bears an early 1-0 advantage. Just eight minutes later, Missouri Valley would knot the match up at 1-1, as a collision inside the box allowed for a penalty kick opportunity for the Vikings, which Bartomeu Trias converted. Missouri Valley would grab a lead in the 28th minute, following a patient possession that found a seam in the Rocky defense and allowed them to attack, as Davor Marinkovic fired a cross-box shot into the net for a 2-1 lead. The Battlin' Bears would strike again before halftime, as Luke Tooze would fire a deep pass into Ralph Jooma Jr., who crossed a pass to Jeremiah Espana, who again would rotate the ball back to Tooze, who fired a deep shot off the right post and into the net to tie the contest at 2-2 going into halftime. Rocky wasted no time following the halftime break, grabbing a lead less than 90 seconds into the half. Fynn Sweeting would direct a header backwards towards the Vikings' goal, slipping his pass over the head of the defender, giving a one-on-one opportunity for freshman David Russell to convert the goal for a 3-2 lead. The momentum would shift Missouri Valley's way later in the half, as Rocky would attempt a clearance inside the box, only for the ball to meet the foot of Felipe Hernandez Carrasco and into the goal, tying the match at 3-3. Things felt dire for the Battlin' Bears late, however, as Bartomeu Trias would tally his second goal of the match with under three minutes remaining. After Rocky led for over half of the second half, they found themselves in a one-goal deficit late. With the clock stopped at 23 seconds following a yellow card given to Missouri Valley, Rory O'Donnell sent a free kick from nearly midfield, finding the head of Ralph Jooma Jr., then Ryan Daniel, before Luke Tooze contorted himself for a turnaround missile into the back left corner of the net to tie the match with only 16.8 seconds remaining. While Missouri Valley outshot the Battlin' Bears 12-10, Rocky put seven of their ten shots on goal in the contest compared to the Vikings' six, making the job of 2024 NAIA Second Team All-American goalkeeper Cristobal Benitz Elgado difficult for the full 90 minutes. Notably, Rocky turned just four shot attempts in the second half into two goals. The shot attempts were distributed evenly for the Battlin' Bears, proving their versatility, as seven different players totaled their ten shot attempts. Scoring Summary 6' RMC - Lorenzo Klamler (Ast. Aaron Lawson) 14' MVC - Bartomeu Trias (PK) 28' MVC - Davor Marinkovic (Ast. Shosei Watanabe) 40' RMC - Luke Tooze (Ast. Jeremiah Espana) 46' RMC - David Russell (Ast. Fynn Sweeting) 71' MVC - Felipe Hernandez Carrasco 87' MVC - Bartomeu Trias 89' RMC - Luke Tooze (Ast. Ryan Daniel) Up Next The Battlin' Bear men will have a day off before another top-ranked matchup, taking on No. 15-ranked Baker University on Monday at 9:00 am (MT).