Statesmen Earn Draw Against William Woods

Oskaloosa–The William Penn women’s soccer team posted its first positive result of the 2024 campaign with a 1-1 non-conference tie against Williams Woods Saturday.

WPU (0-1-1) managed a 13-10 edge in shots in a physical contest that featured 29 fouls, five yellow cards, and two red cards.

The navy and gold missed on a couple of early chances, but finally took their first lead of the season when India Foger (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Exercise Science) chipped a cleared ball back into the box and Alessia Piombo (So., So., Traverse City, Mich., Business Management) finished it off at the 26:22 mark.

The hosts stayed on top through halftime, but were penalized for a passing mistake in their back line as WWU (1-1-1) knotted the score just 40 seconds into the latter period.

Just over 11 minutes later, William Penn went up a player on a William Woods’ red card. Unfortunately, the Statesmen failed to take advantage, while the numbers evened with under seven minutes to go on a WPU red card.

Neither side could break the scoreless tie down the stretch.

The Statesmen had a balanced attack with 10 different players recording a shot. Piombo led the way with three attempts at the goal, while Sian Bah (Jr., London, England, Political Science) finished with two tries.

Madeline Danielson (Sr., La Crescent, Minn., Biology) kept the contest tied by managing four saves.

“Today was a physical battle and with the heat, it was also a test of mental toughness,” Head Coach Kaleb Preston said. “Being up a goal and a player, it is tough to not feel like this was a missed opportunity. The ladies should still take a lot of positives from today. We will clean up the small mistakes as we move forward.”

Next Up: William Penn travels to Forest City next Tuesday to face Waldorf in non-conference action at 5 p.m.