Box Score St. Louis, Mo. - The Cougar men's soccer team earned a 4-1 road victory at American Midwest Conference (AMC) foe Missouri Baptist University on Tuesday afternoon. With the win, Columbia improves to 5-2-2 on the year and 2-0-1 in the AMC. The loss drops the Spartans to 6-2-1 overall and 2-1 in league play.

The first half featured a combined 12 shots between the two sides, including eight by the Cougars. However, both defenses were up to the task as the match remained scoreless through the first 45 minutes of play. Following the halftime break, Rafael Ramos put the Cougars on the board with a goal just 27 seconds into the second period. That was the just the start of the offensive action as Ramos found the back of the Spartans net again for a 2-0 Columbia lead at the 51:05 mark. Ramos would complete the hat trick with his third goal of the contest just nine minutes later, giving the Cougars a commanding 3-0 advantage with under 30 minutes to play in the match. Missouri Baptist trimmed the Columbia lead to 3-1 on a goal by Alen Palislamovic in the 66^th minute, but Ramos answered right back with his fourth goal just over a minute later and the Cougars would cruise to the 4-1 victory from there.

Columbia dominated the game with a 24-9 shot advantage on the afternoon, which included 16 shots on goal. Senior Matt McKenna posted six saves to pick up the win in goal and Jovan Ilic, Marko Paunovic, and Zac Walters each had an assist in the contest.

The Cougars will return home to host AMC opponent Williams Baptist (Ark.) College on Friday, September 27^th. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at R. Marvin Owens Soccer Stadium.