Great Second Half Sees the Statesmen Beat St. Ambrose
Oskaloosa — The William Penn women’s soccer team hosted St. Ambrose on Saturday and gave up the first goal of the game. However, the Statesmen got momentum going into the halftime break and scored the next two goals to earn a hard fought 2-1 win. The team is now 3-2 on the year and will start Heart of America Athletic Conference play Wednesday.
The Statesmen had not beat St. Ambrose since 2005, entering with 11 losses in a row to the Queen Bees. It looked like that trend would continue early on in the game. Riley Ludwig (Sr., Big Bear City, Calif., Psychology) got caught out of the net and St. Ambrose took advantage, making it 1-0 19 minutes into the contest. The navy and gold struggled to find their footing early on, but that started to change as the first half went along. The team found their footing and began to create chances, taking seven shots in the first 45. Isabella Pirami (So., South Jordan, Utah, Exercise Science) hit a ball off the crossbar and Erika Tam (Fr., La Palma, Calif., Biology) pushed a shot just wide of an open net. The Statesmen created a couple more chances to end the first half and took a lot of confidence into the intermission.
The second half was controlled by the Statesmen and they played with more energy and creativity. Kaitlin Falaney (Fr., Ottawa, Ill., Sports Management) made a number of good runs and eventually collected a great pass from Pirami. She cut through the defense and shot the ball into the net from inside the box to tie the game. WPU kept attacking for the next 30 minutes as they outshot St. Ambrose 12-6 in the second half.
With just eight minutes to go, the Statesmen got a free kick outside the box. Whipped into a crowded penalty area, Shaytel Nieto (Sr., Kansas City, Kan., Biology) headed the ball down and Zoe Ganley (Fr., Honokaa, Hawaii, Wellness and Recreation) kicked the ball into the net to put the navy and gold ahead for good. Her first goal of the year helped the Statesmen complete the comeback win.
The team took 19 total shots compared to 14 for the Queen Bess over the course of the game, with the corner kick count even at one per team. Ludwig came away with five saves on the day while Falaney led the team with eight shots.
“Brilliant win for our women today,” said head coach Jaymee Highcock. “We have been waiting a long time to beat St. Ambrose and to produce the soccer we played today was great to see. After going down 1-0, we reacted in a very positive way and played some great soccer. This win will fill us with confidence heading into the conference season and we are happy with how the team is progressing. We will continue to work hard and accomplish all the goals we want to achieve this season.”
Next Up: The Team will remain at home and host Culver-Stockton on Wednesday night, with kick-off slated for 5:00 p.m.
