Statesmen Blank St. Ambrose in Non-Conference Finale
William Penn University Athletics
Davenport–Goals by freshmen Juan Salazar (Buga, Colombia, Exercise Science) and Anfernee Houston (Harrisburg, Ill., Kinesiology) have the William Penn men’s soccer team flying high entering league play as it defeated St. Ambrose 2-0 in non-conference action Saturday.
WPU (3-2-1) dominated the first 45 minutes, but did not have anything to show for it until Salazar notched his first collegiate goal unassisted at the 39:58 mark. The navy and gold owned a 10-1 edge in shots prior to intermission.
The Bees (1-3-1) were more of the aggressors in the latter half (8-4 edge in shots), but it did not affect the game’s outcome as Houston put the finishing touches on the victory with a goal in the 80th minute. Facundo Benitez (Sr., Buenos Aires, Argentina, Business Management) assisted on the insurance goal.
Nenad Markovic (So., Belgrade, Serbia) topped all players with five shots; the Statesmen finished with a 14-9 advantage in attempts. Emannuel Esparza (So., Posen, Ill., Physical Education (K-12)) managed to pick up the first shutout of his career by stopping four SAU shots.
“This was a good positive road win,” Head Coach Jaymee Highcock said. “It is good to play well and beat another in-state opponent. Finishing the non-conference schedule with back-to-back wins feels great and now we are looking forward to playing a highly-ranked opponent in MidAmerica Nazarene next weekend. Our team is getting better and we will have a good hard week of practice to get ready for them.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Olathe, Kan. next Saturday to face MidAmerica Nazarene in its Heart of America Athletic Conference opener at 3:30 p.m.
