Penalty-Kick Goal Pushes Statesmen Past H-LG

Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s soccer team was in a defensive battle Saturday afternoon, but came away victorious as a late penalty-kick goal by Milton Magana (Sr., Los Angeles Calif., Sociology) gave the Statesmen a 1-0 non-conference victory over Hannibal-LaGrange.

The Statesmen (3-1) defense was solid all day as it only allowed six shots (four on goal) by the Trojans (2-1), while the hosts tallied 17 of their own. Unfortunately, just four of WPU’s attempts were on goal, leading the two sides to fight in a scoreless tie until the final minutes.

In a chippy contest that featured 26 total fouls and five cards, the most substantial carding came with 8:50 left in regulation as H-LG was given a red for a hard foul in the box. That permitted Magana to step to the penalty-kick spot, where his delivery found the netting for the lone goal of the afternoon. Up a man, the Statesmen held the visitors to only one shot down the stretch to preserve the triumph.

Magana and Edan Sears (So., Telford, England) guided the navy and gold offense with three shots each, while Harry Nash (Sr., Basingstoke, England, Sports Management) collected the victory with four saves.

“We are happy to come away with a win before conference starts,” Head Coach Simon Brown said. “We are just missing a bit of individual quality in front of the goal to make all these chances count.”

Next Up: The Statesmen open up Heart of America Athletic Conference play next Wednesday at Lamoni against Graceland at 7:30 PM.