Statesmen Rebound with Sweep of Culver-Stockton
Oskaloosa–The William Penn Esports team came away with its first earned Rocket League victory, sweeping Culver-Stockton 3-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Thursday.
WPU (2-2), which won its first-ever match via forfeit last week, started Thursday by slipping past the Wildcats 3-2 in the opening bout. After more than a minute of scoreless action, Vann Bohling (So., Leander, Texas, Business Management) finally got the navy and gold on the board with a goal.
C-SC answered with a pair of scores, but Thando Morebudi (Sr., Pretoria, South Africa, Applied Computer Science) was able to force overtime as he scored with just one second left in regulation.
Aiden Gibbons (Fr., Apollo Beach, Fla., Sports Management) then recorded the game-winner 1:19 into the extra session to put William Penn up 1-0 in the match.
The opener did not feature much offense with WPU needing just three saves to claim victory.
The second outing was even more defensive as the Statesmen took the ‘W’ with a 2-0 decision. Gibbons managed both scores, while as a team, William Penn finished with seven stops.
Overtime was again need in the third game. The Statesmen, who won 4-3, were guided by a four-goal performance from Gibbons. The freshman was successful on all four of his shot attempts.
Again down late, the navy and gold were able to even the score with nine seconds left. Gibbons then wrapped up the sweep just six ticks into sudden death OT. Morebudi assisted on two of the squad’s goals.
WPU ended up with three saves in the final round.
“This was a completely different story than our last outing,” Head Coach Austin Fages-Scholes said. “We came to play from the jump. Aiden was tremendous for us on the offensive end. What really impressed me today, though, was the play from AJ (Thando) and Vann on defense who had several great aerial saves. We really played as a team; we do not win 3-0 without the performances of all three players.”
Next Up: William Penn faces Baker in Heart play next Thursday.
