KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Avila men's soccer welcomed the KCAC's top team, (10) Oklahoma Wesleyan, to The Z on Wednesday afternoon, and the Eagles from Oklahoma (6-1-2, 5-0 KCAC) lived up to the billing as one of the NAIA's top squads, taking down the Eagles from Kansas City (2-7-1, 1-3-1 KCAC) by a final count of 8-1.

Avila played OKWU, unquestionably the top team in the KCAC yet again, quite tough over the first 45 minutes. The visiting Eagles got on the board immediately when top goal scorer Stefan Cvetanovic found an opening three minutes in and then doubled the lead ten minutes after that from the penalty spot. Kirill Pakhomov then delivered a long-range strike to make it 3-0 in the 22^nd minute, and it seemed like OKWU might be primed to run away with the game until Avila pieced together a very nice response that ended with Vincent Escott feeding Sam Kanda in the box for a great finish, getting Avila on the board with about eight minutes left in the first half. For the most part, Avila held Oklahoma Wesleyan at bay, with goalkeeper Johnathan Fager delivering a handful of saves and getting some help defensively from the likes of Damon Young and Thomas Mikkelson.

After halftime, however, Oklahoma Wesleyan took full control. Cvetanovic, the league's leading scorer and early KCAC Player of the Year frontrunner, scored twice more, including another penalty, Matheus Ulrich and Uros Rosic scored goals from range, and Pol Mur scored the final goal and assisted on another. In the span of five minutes, OKWU extended a 5-1 lead into an 8-1 lead, putting the game beyond doubt. Cvetanovic finished with four goals in total.

Avila had a couple of solid scoring chances in the game, especially through young forwards Henri Kagay and Robert Davies, and Kanda's goal was just the second OKWU goalkeeper Oliver Scott has conceded this year in five games. Fager finished with a season-high 11 saves for Avila.  

The road gets much smoother in the KCAC for Avila now that OKWU is out of the way in this regular season. Up next, Avila will make the long trip out to York, Nebraska to face the Panthers this Saturday, September 30. The women's match kicks off the doubleheader at 1 PM, with the men to follow at 3:30; as always, you can watch all the action on the KCAC Network.