Mount Mercy Rallies Past William Penn in Second Half
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Oskaloosa–The Lady Statesmen soccer team held a halftime lead, but could not prevent Mount Mercy from erupting in the second 45 minutes in a 4-1 Midwest Collegiate Conference loss Saturday.
William Penn (1-9, 0-1 MCC) quickly put itself in a hole as Desiree Rosario (Sr., Brunswick, Ga., Information Technology) received two yellow cards in the first ten minutes, forcing the home squad to play a person down for the remainder of the evening.
That did not affect the navy and gold right away, however, as the offense gathered in front of the Mustang goal just a couple minutes later. Silvia Munoz (Fr., Paramount, Calif., Elementary Education) took the first shot, which bounded off the hands of goalkeeper Jerica Christensen. Leslie Hernandez (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill., Biology) took another shot that was again stopped, but not corralled.
The ball ricocheted to Kate Thayer (Fr., East Fremantle, Australia, Physical Education) who finally put it in the back of the netting for her fourth goal at the 12:17 mark. Hernandez was credited with the assist, the first of her career.
The Lady Statesmen, who were outshot 32-5, kept that lead through halftime, but in the 59th minute, Mount Mercy (5-4-2, 1-0 MCC) scored the equalizer and then tacked on the go-ahead goal just over three minutes down the road. The visitors added two goals in the waning minutes to secure the win.
Amber Klootwyk (Fr., Knoxville, Iowa, Business Management/Education) made eight saves between the pipes.
“I was very happy with the desire and heart shown in this game,” Head Coach Willie McGowan said. “Having to play a man down after just ten minutes made it very difficult and everyone had to work hard to be competitive. The scoreline sadly does not reflect our effort.”
“If we can start to control some of the small individual things, games like this could easily go in our favor,” McGowan added.
Next: William Penn travels to La Crosse, Wis. next Saturday to face Viterbo in MCC action at 1 p.m.
