Statesmen Drops Road Game at CMU

William Penn University Athletics

Fayette, Mo.–The William Penn men’s soccer team was unable to take down a solid Central Methodist squad which is receiving votes nationally in a 5-2 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss Sunday.

The Statesmen (5-6-2, 2-4-1 Heart) gave up only one goal in the first half, but the flood gates unfortunately opened a few minutes into the second period as #31 CMU tallied three more goals.

With his crew down 4-0 at the midway point of the second half, Nenad Markovic (So., Belgrade, Serbia) finally got his team on the board by scoring on a pass from Joni Cruz (Sr., Salinas, Calif., Psychology). The sophomore is now leading the navy and gold with 11 goals.

Cruz then managed an unassisted goal in the 83rd minute, but the host Eagles (9-2-1, 5-1 Heart) iced the victory with a final goal in the final two minutes of action.

William Penn was outshot 25-10 with Markovic leading the way with four attempts, while Caleb Pipes-Goulsbra (Jr., Lincoln, England, Exercise Science) posted seven saves in the goal.

“We faced strong opposition today,” Head Coach Jaymee Highcock said. “We unfortunately started the game slowly and never really recovered. A few individuals performed well, but we were not quite our best today. We will take the positives from this result and look forward to performing better on Wednesday night.”

Next Up: William Penn travels to Canton, Mo. Wednesday to face Culver-Stockton in Heart play at 7:30 p.m.