Top-Seeded WPU Holds Off Missouri Baptist to Punch Ticket for Semifinals
Oskaloosa–Although the second half continues to be a struggle, the William Penn men’s soccer team did enough to advance as it defeated No. 8 seed Missouri Baptist 3-1 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Quarterfinals Wednesday.
No. 1 seed (11-0-8) remains unbeaten on the season, despite being outshot 12-9. With the victory, the Statesmen move on to Saturday’s semifinals to face No. 4 seed Missouri Valley at Drost Field at 5 p.m. The teams tied 1-1 in Oskaloosa back on October 13.
On a cold, mist-driven evening, the navy and gold started a bit slow, but were still the first ones on the scoreboard as Alexander Greaves (Sr., Hertford, England, Sports Management) found a lane and drilled a shot into the netting at the 18:51 mark. Assists were credited to Javier Perez (So., Alicante, Spain, Business Management) and Nelson Dongmo (So., Munich, Germany, Mechanical Engineering).
Just over 20 minutes later, Raimu Shingo (Jr., Fukuoka, Japan, Business Management) tracked down a pass from Hector Bastos (So., Vitoria, Brazil, Computer Science) and beat the Spartan goalkeeper on a one-on-one situation to put the hosts up 2-0.
The two-goal advantage stood until the 78th minute. After putting consistent pressure on William Penn, MBU (9-6-4) finally broke through, cutting the lead in half.
The Statesmen unfortunately blew a pair of two-goal leads last week (both resulted in ties), but were able to hold on against the Spartans.
After fighting on their heels for a few more minutes, the Statesmen had a chance to put the game to rest and did so. A crossing pass from Angel Valdez (Jr., Mexicali, Mexico, Nursing) ricocheted off Jarred Hendricks (Sr., Cape Town, South Africa, Exercise Science) and then Perez before Andrea Brugora (So., Milano, Italy, Business Management) punched it home with the bottom of his cleat for the 3-1 edge.
Although it was outshot 9-5 in the second 45 minutes, WPU did earn seven corner kicks (8-5 edge in corner kicks total).
Greaves and Hendricks paced the offense with three shots each.
“This time of the year is about finding a way to win, and we did that,” Head Coach Joe Minton said. “However, we cannot keep doing this to ourselves, and having a poor second half. It is killing our momentum.”
