First-Half Troubles Doom WPU in Loss to Baker

Baldwin City, Kan.–The William Penn women’s soccer team could not overcome a trio of first-half scores as it fell 3-2 to Baker in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Wednesday.

In a rescheduled contest from September 16, the Statesmen (3-4-1, 0-2-1 Heart) lost the shots battle 13-10, including narrowly having a 7-6 deficit in shots on goal.

WPU was shellshocked out of the gate as the visiting crew gave up a goal just 22 seconds into the evening. Baker (2-6-1, 1-2 Heart) then added scores in the 14th and 30th minutes before the Statesmen finally found traction in the contest.

Ana Medina-Suazo (Jr., San Jose, Calif., Nursing) got the navy and gold on the board at the 32:54 mark as she beat the BU goalkeeper with assists credited to Taylor Witthauer (Sr., Vancouver, Wash., Nursing) and Isabelle Pietrangelo (Grad., Curitiba, Brazil, Master’s of Sports Management). Both Medina-Suazo and Witthauer tallied a team-best three shots Wednesday.

With William Penn still behind 3-1 midway through the second period, Witthauer cut the margin in half as she placed a ball into the netting off a pass from Joy Pagel (So., Maring-Noviand, Germany, Psychology).

The Statesmen dominated the final six minutes of action with four shots and two corner kicks (three in the game), but unfortunately failed to produce the tying goal. The visitors nearly seized the win despite giving up 13 corner kicks to the Wildcats.

Madeline Danielson (Jr., La Crescent, Minn., Exercise Science) recorded four saves in the league setback.

“For the second game in a row, we came out flat in the first half,” Head Coach Andy Commins said. “Unfortunately, this time around we could not make up the deficit.”

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Saturday to host MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart play at 2:30 p.m.