Boonville did not want Missouri Military Academy to have many scoring chances Tuesday night.

Still, the Colonels found a way to win 2-0 on Senior Night after two of their seniors scored as a result of a foul. Kellan Mugisha capitalized on a penalty kick 26 minutes into the game, and the captain Afane curved a free kick into the net 62 minutes into the contest.

MMA (9-4-2) outshot Boonville 18-10 and 10-4 on shots on goal and broke its two-game scoreless streak going into the day that included a 0-0 tie Oct. 6 at home against Canton and a 3-0 loss Thursday at Camdenton.

Head coach Elliot Goodwin said MMA obviously had been working through scoring struggles in the previous two weeks. He said it was nice to see two of the team’s seven seniors take advantage of the prime opportunities the Colonels had.

“It’s a nice sendoff for the boys and the seniors with the last game here on the field,” Goodwin said. “(Boonville) came with a game plan to just defend and make it difficult for us in that first half, but we found the goal that we needed to give us that little bit of extra kick.”

Goodwin is referring to the goal by Mugisha, who tallied his seventh goal of the season with the successful penalty kick. The Pirates (3-10) were content with crowding the front of the net to provide MMA’s strikers with much traffic. Mugisha encountered some on the right side of the goal but was making a move to pass the defender before being pulled down.

With no Pirate blocking the net, it was a showdown between Mugisha and the Boonville goalkeeper that the Colonel senior won easily, pumping his first after breaking the scoreless streak.

“They came with that game plan, and they executed it very well,” Goodwin said. “They kept us out for probably 30 minutes or so and tried to make it frustrating for us, which they did. Getting the penalty and things like that helped us gain that little momentum we needed before half.”

Boonville didn’t have many scoring chances in the first half besides a solo breakaway to the side of the net by Isaac Marriott, which was stopped easily by Diego Pineda.

In the second half, MMA continued to attack the congestion in the box as this paid off a little more than halfway through when Afane was fouled. He was awarded a free kick that had to begin slightly behind a wall of Pirate defenders. Afane bended the shot around them and just within the left goal post out of reach from the diving keeper for the second goal.

“From the area like that, hit the target and you have a chance, and that’s exactly what he did,” Goodwin said. “Afane — the captain of the team — has come back from an injury. He’s had a frustrating season — got injured over in the Moberly tournament (last month) — so it’s nice to have him back. That was his first game back for us, and for him to get a goal, that will lift his confidence as well.

“Both of the guys have had really good years, and they’ve made great contributions to the program. On a night like this, getting a goal makes that little bit extra special for them.”

MMA now has more wins than each of the previous three seasons with a Thursday game at Class 4 Battle (9-7-2) scheduled as its final game, which the Colonels lost 4-1, before the district tournament. Goodwin said the group honored prior to the game Tuesday are a big reason why the Colonels are in the position they are this season.

“That’s the senior group that came in when I first started coaching here,” Goodwin said. “Those boys have been really good and really helpful to me so a big thanks to them. We’re all where we’re at because of some of those guys. We’ve got nine wins on the season now, and those guys have contributed massively toward that. I can’t thank them enough for it.”

In the Class 1 District 4 Tournament to be hosted at Fatima in Westphalia, MMA is the No. 3 seed and scheduled to play No. 2 St. Francis Borgia (8-8)  at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in the semifinals. The Colonels were eliminated by the Knights last season after losing 5-0.