Statesmen Battle Second #1 in Two Weeks
Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s soccer team concluded homecoming action with a matchup against the #1 Central Methodist Eagles.
The Statesmen put up a valiant effort, but fell 1-0 in regulation. The loss drops William Penn’s overall record to 5-4, while they move to 1-2 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
The Eagles got to work on offense early, but their two early shot attempts both sailed wide of target. The Statesmen responded with two shots as well, but both were deflected before they could cause any trouble.
Two more shots sailed wide for William Penn as Luke Andrews (Sr., Andover, England, Sports Management) and Sagar Bhattarai (Sr., Columbus, Ohio, Information Systems) each had shots deflected. Soon after, the Statesmen received a yellow card, giving a free kick to the Eagles. The Eagles took advantage, turning the extra field position into their first legitimate scoring threat. They capitalized, scoring just over 30 minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead.
Just before halftime, Joseph Kitengie (Jr., Benoni, South Africa, Business Management) forced the CMU goalie into action, but the shot was saved to preserve the 1-0 advantage into the break. Despite the goal, the Statesmen played incredibly close to the Eagles, outshooting them 8-7 through the first 45 minutes while putting two of their shots on the mark.
Just over a minute into the second half, Aaron Keita (Sr., Monrovia, Liberia, Computer Science) fired a shot toward the goal, but it was knocked away by the keeper. The sequence led to a corner kick, but the shot after the corner sailed wide. Keita attempted a header 10 minutes later, but that one was saved as well.
Both offenses went stagnant for a while as the defenses stepped up to shut the offense down. CMU had a golden opportunity to ice the game in the 85th minute, but Miguel Barbosa (Grad, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Master’s of Sports Management) swatted away the shot with his fully outstretched left arm. The ball did not roll far away, however, and another shot was on its way in, but Vincenzo Centrella (Jr., Rome, Italy) came flying in to kick it away.
In the final minute of the game, the Statesmen gave it everything they had. Lukas Koch (Jr., Moers, Germany, Sports Management) unloaded a powerful shot that was denied by the keeper, turning it into a corner kick for the Statesmen. Off the corner, Gianmarco Centrella (Jr., Rome, Italy, Business Management) nearly headed one home, but it hit off an Eagles defender and turned into another corner with only a few seconds remaining. The final chance for the Statesmen saw Kitengie get another header away, but it was saved by the keeper to put the game away.
The Statesmen drew even with the Eagles on shots for the night with 17, though the navy and gold put six on target compared to only four for the visitors.
“Our guys gave everything against the best team in the country and just came up short,” said Head Coach Simon Brown. “Unfortunately, we fell asleep once and it cost us the game. We’re in a place now of not scoring goals, and not keeping clean sheets.”
“We need to get better at both ends of the field to get back to winning ways,” he added. “We will take the positives into Graceland on Tuesday.”
What’s Next: The Statesmen have another home matchup coming up on Tuesday as the Graceland Yellowjackets come into town. Kickoff for the men’s game is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
