WPU Falls to Clarke on the Road
Dubuque, Iowa — It was a must win road match for the women’s soccer team of William Penn University as they made their way to Dubuque to take on Clarke University. The statesmen battled hard but could not find a goal over the course of 90 minutes and they fell to Clarke by a final score of 3-0. The team is now 6-9 overall and 1-7 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
The game started off level as the navy and gold fought to establish position in the midfield. Vanessa Hamilton (Sr., Manteca, Calif., Exercise Science) got another start in net and made her first save six minutes in. Iris Navarro (Fr., Ontario, Calif., Biology) took the Statesmen’s first shot 12 minutes in but it would be the only one for quite some time as the pressure mounted on Hamilton. She had to make three saves over three minutes, standing tall as her defense fought valiantly to keep the home team at bay. Clarke eventually got on the board 26 minutes in and the squad tried to formulate a game-tying goal.
Isabella Pirami (So., South Jordan, Utah, Exercise Science) would deliver two corner kicks in quick succession soon after the goal but no one could get something on net from them. Zoe Ganley (Fr., Honokaa, Hawaii, Wellness and Recreation) would get the next Statesmen shot but it was saved by the Clarke keeper. Two other shots were recorded in the first half but nothing found the twine and WPU tried to regroup at the break.
The second half saw Pirami get a shot away for the Statesmen early and Breana Roberts (Fr., St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda, Biology) just missed the goal a couple minutes later, but the visitors conceded a goal nine minutes into the action and the navy and gold went down 2-0. A third would get behind Hamilton with 14 minutes to go as the Pride put the game away.
Navarro and Pirami would get a few more shots away for the Statesmen as six of their 10 total shots found the target, but the Clarke goalie would not let any by making six saves against WPU. Pirami led the team with four shots and Navarro had three in the losing effort. Vanessa Hamilton would make 10 saves on the 13 shots she faced in the losing effort.
“The performance did not match the result from tonight,” said head coach Jaymee Highcock. “We played some good soccer in the first half but then conceded from a very sloppy corner. We have not dealt with corners all season and it has become a reoccurring theme conceding them. We will look to get back to winning ways against Graceland on Saturday.”
Next Up: The Statesmen return to Drost Field to play Graceland for homecoming weekend Saturday Oct. 19 at 11:00 a.m.
