Statesmen Drop Senior Night Battle to Culver-Stockton
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s soccer team was hoping to give its senior class a nice send-off as well as position itself better for a deep postseason run, but unfortunately Culver-Stockton had other thoughts as the Statesmen fell 3-2 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.
The loss drops WPU (10-7-1, 6-6 Heart) into the #8 seed for the Heart Tournament, which begins next Tuesday. The Statesmen will host #9 seed Mount Mercy in the play-in round in Oskaloosa (Time TBD). William Penn faced the Mustangs just three days ago and won 1-0 in overtime.
The hosts got on the board first when Eduardo Bonatto (Fr., Rio Grande, Brazil, Business Management) picked off a pass and drove a shot into the netting at the 18:25 mark. The goal is his fourth of the year.
The Statesmen took that 1-0 advantage into the early minutes of the second stanza, but then momentum shifted in an instant. The Wildcats (8-7-3, 6-6 Heart), who claimed the #7 seed for the tournament with the win, struck back-to-back-to-back in the 49th, 53rd, and 63rd minutes.
When the smoke cleared, the navy and gold were down but not out, and still had ample time to battle back. Despite outshooting C-SC 13-11, including an 8-3 mark in the latter period, WPU could only get within one as Moussa Ndiaye (So., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) managed an unassisted score with 5:47 left in regulation. The sophomore has three goals this fall.
The equalizer unfortunately never came for the home squad, which had 10 different players attempt a shot. Diego Navarro (Fr., Madrid, Spain, Mechanical Engineering) topped the crew with three tries.
Guillermo Pineda (Fr., Madrid, Spain, Business Management & Communications) ended the setback with three saves.
“This was a very poor performance from us after a very good first half,” Head Coach Jaymee Highcock said. “Culver-Stockton was very up for the game and made the most of our mistakes. We will look to regroup and bounce back quickly as the conference tournament starts in a few days.”
