Barea Lights Up Net as Bears Win Home Opener Over Pacific

SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State men’s soccer team (1-1) returned to form Monday night in its home opener with a dominant 3-0 win over the University of Pacific Tigers (1-1). Forward Jesus Barea led the way with two goals and an assist to play a role in every Bears score.

“The guys worked hard,” head coach Michael Seabolt said. “The guys played well and responded well.”

Seabolt earned his 25th career win as head coach of the Bears and 55th overall as a head coach at the Division I level. Seabolt also has 23 shutouts at the helm of the program.

The Bears went all out in the opening half, taking 12 shots while preventing the Tigers from firing any attempts toward the net. 

“When you run hard and get the ball back, then there’s a great opportunity to connect and to make sure we keep the ball and we did that well,” Seabolt said. “We really talked about concentration for 90 minutes. When we get good players that pass the ball to each other, then we’ll get a lot of possession.”

Barea was the focal point of Missouri State’s offense, taking six of the team’s 16 total shots. Forward Fumiya Shiraishi was also a threat, putting up five shots in his 42 minutes of play. Barea now sits at 190 career shots, putting him fourth all-time in Missouri State history and just six shots away from tying Doug Lascody (2001-04) for third on the list.

“He’s started the season great,” Seabolt said of Barea. “This was the kind of performance we all needed and when the team works really, really hard and comes with an amazing attitude, togetherness and family mindset, we’re going to do well.”

Before Barea found the net himself, he facilitated Missouri State’s opening goal scored by defender Michael Peck in the 34th minute. The goal was Peck’s second of his career to go along with his first against Saint Louis last year.

Missouri State maintained the attack before the end of the half. Forward James Jennings responded after missing a shot wide right to send a cross to Barea within seconds to give Barea his first goal of the match and second this season.

The Bears continued their style of play in the second half, methodically finding opportunities for high-percentage shots. Seabolt also brought Barea off the bench to start the second half. After checking in a little over 10 minutes into the half, Barea ran from the sidelines right into scoring position and he belted his second goal of the match in the 59th minute mere seconds removed from reentering.

This was Barea’s second brace of his career. He scored two goals against Cal State Northridge in a 7-0 win in 2022. He now has 22 goals in his career to put him tied with Heath Melugin (2008-11) and Nicolo Mulatero (2018-2022) for eighth most in Bears history.

Barea has now scored four goals in his last three matches going back to last season when he scored against Stanford in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

All of Missouri State’s goals came before Pacific attempted their two shots. Both attempts were saved by goalkeeper Harry Townsend, who earned his 24th career shutout to take sole possession of fourth on the program’s career shutouts list. 

“Everyone did their jobs,” Townsend said of the win. “From the front all the way through the team, it was a very professional performance.”

Missouri State will have a week off to prepare for its next home match against the Kansas City Roos (1-0-1) on Monday, September 2 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Admission is free to all Missouri State home games. Kansas City will face UC Santa Barbara on Thursday before making the trip to Springfield.