Statesmen Drop Matchup with Eagles 3-1

Oskaloosa–The William Penn eSports team officially got its inaugural Rocket League season underway Thursday as it fell 3-1 to Central Methodist in Heart of America Athletic Conference competition.

WPU (10-1), which earned a forfeit Tuesday in its season opener against Graceland, started slow with a 6-2 loss in the opening game. The squad recorded just four shots on goal, including three by Aiden Gibbons (Fr., Apollo Beach, Fla., Sports Management).

Defensively, the Statesmen managed eight saves with Martin Contreras (Fr., Hinsdale, Ill., Sports Management) posting five.

William Penn was again sluggish in the early parts of the second game, falling behind 3-0. Then with just 11 seconds remaining, Gibbons beat the CMU defense twice in the span of five seconds to pull his squad within one goal. Unfortunately, it was not enough as the navy and gold fell 3-2.

WPU stayed alive with a 4-3 victory in the third outing. A hat trick from Gibbons highlighted a solid overall performance to keep the Statesmen in the match.

The comeback would be squelched, however, as the Eagles claimed the fourth game 7-2 to wrap up the best-of-five series.

Vann Bohling (So., Leander, Texas, Business Management) and Thando Morebudi (Sr., Pretoria, South Africa, Applied Computer Science) also appeared in the contest.

“I am proud of the guys for the battle they showed,” Head Coach Austin Fagen-Scholes said. “The second and third games were especially great for us. We will review what went wrong, build from it, and be ready for our next game.”

Next Up: William Penn faces Missouri Valley in Heart action next Tuesday.