Statesmen Even Record with Two Goals in Second Half
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Oskaloosa–A pair of second-half scores pushed the William Penn women’s soccer team to .500 on the year as it rallied for a 2-1 victory over Briar Cliff in the opener of the William Penn Classic Friday.
WPU (2-2) held a 10-9 edge in shots over the Chargers (1-1), but trailed 1-0 at half as BCU scored the first goal in the 42nd minute.
Camila Parra (Fr., Brisbane, Australia, Biology) knotted things up at the 68:10 mark when she finished off a pass from Isabel Sandez (Jr., Bloomington, Calif., Exercise Science). Parra has two goals in 2014, while Sandez has two assists.
With the game still tied at 1-1 late, weather took its toll on the field and players as a steady rain began to fall. It did not affect Alyce Correia (So., Perth, Australia, Elementary Education), however, as she sent a long set piece into the box in the 86th minute and it took a strong WPU bounce over the head of the Charger goalkeeper to give her squad the lead for good. Correia is now tied with Parra for the squad high with two scores.
Kelly Button (Sr., Tucson, Ariz., Business Management) posted three saves in the win.
“With that performance we will be tough to beat if we can continue to gel and work hard for each other,” Head Coach Willie McGowan said. “We started off slowly and although we competed well in the first half and did not make too many mistakes defensively, we struggled at times to make the right pass or make the right run at critical times.”
“The second half was amazing as we did not let up at all,” McGowan added. “We came out quickly and put Briar Cliff on its back foot by applying a good amount of pressure on their back line. With the wind at our backs, we could start to get balls in behind. We used our wings to good effect and switched the ball through the midfield.”
“Camila’s goal was extremely well taken on the volley after being flicked in on goal by Isabel. Alyce knocked in an accurate free kick into the danger-area and we finally got the luck we needed. After hitting the crossbar and the post, I felt that maybe the scoreline did not reflect the amount of play we had in that second half.”
Next Up: William Penn finishes the WPU Classic Sunday by hosting Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.) at 2 p.m.
