Statesmen Down Mustangs, Secure Tournament Berth
Cedar Rapids–The William Penn’s men’s soccer team traveled to Cedar Rapids Tuesday night and came away with a 2-1 win over Mount Mercy in a critical Heart of America Athletic Conference matchup.
In a welcome change from its recent play, William Penn (9-5-2, 6-5-1 Heart) started the game on fire, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes against the Mustangs (7-6-3, 4-5-2 Heart).
The first goal of the night came off a corner kick from Milton Magana (Sr., Los Angeles Calif., Sociology) that Luke Andrews (Sr., Andover, England, Sports Management) one-touched to the front of the goal. Awaiting the ball was Joseph Kitengie (Sr., Benoni, South Africa, Business Management) who scored 11 minutes into the game.
A few minutes later, WPU centered the ball inside of the box. A poor clear by MMU not only kept it there, but actually put it right at Magana’s feet and he deposited it into the far-left corner to double the Statesmen lead.
All three of the game’s goals were scored in the first half, as the Mustangs found the back of the net in the 31st minute and cut William Penn’s advantage in half.
A defensive battle would ensue after intermission as both teams were shut out, allowing WPU to sneak away with the win in a closely-contested game.
For the first time in many games, William Penn was outshot by its foe as the Mustangs held the margin at 11-9, but the visitors still had more shots on goal (5-4). Lukas Koch (Sr., Moers, Germany, Sports Management) topped WPU with three attempts, while Magana and Kitengie added two each.
Harry Nash (Sr., Basingstoke, England, Sports Management) tallied three saves in front of the cage to collect the win.
The win locks up a spot for William Penn in the Heart Tournament, which begins next Saturday, November 5.
“Our guys battled through some adversity today,” said Head Coach Simon Brown. “We went up two goals, but they battled back with the support of their fans. The guys showed incredible discipline and now with the win, we secured a playoff spot and put ourselves in contention to host a home playoff game. That was always our goal.”
Up Next: William Penn will play its final regular season game Saturday, traveling to Fayette, Mo. to take on #3 Central Methodist in Heart action at 1 p.m.
