Statesmen Tie #2 Central Methodist in Regular Season Finale

Fayette, Mo.–The William Penn men’s soccer team closed out its regular season with an impressive 2-2 tie against #2 Central Methodist in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.

William Penn (9-5-3, 6-4-2 Heart), which had outshot most of its opponents this fall, came up on the short end against the Eagles (12-0-5, 9-0-3 Heart) by a 13-8 margin. Much was riding on the matchup with the Statesmen playing for a possible home game in the Heart Tournament, while Central Methodist was eyeing another league title.

All four of the game’s scores came in the first half with CMU getting things started with a goal at the 3:58 mark. Chanin Olandin (So., Oslo Norway, Sports Management) tied things back up, however, less than five minutes later as he found the back of the net.

It would continue to be a tied game until the 34:19 mark when Edan Sears (So., Telford, England) put the ball into the right corner of the goal to give the Statesmen their first lead at 2-1. The advantage unfortunately did not last long as the Eagles scored to make it 2-2 just a minute after the Statesmen goal.

The second half proved to be the opposite of the first as neither team could break the tie. While the tie was impressive, other programs behind WPU won and dropped the squad to the #7 seed for the Heart Tournament. The Statesmen will open the tourney in Marshall, Mo. next Saturday against #2 seed Missouri Valley (MVC won the first contest 3-1). Central Methodist shared the Heart title with MVC, but earned the #1 seed.

Sears and Joseph Kitengie (Sr., Benoni, South Africa, Business Management) each recorded three shots Saturday, while Harry Nash (Sr., Basingstoke, England, Sports Management) saved two shots in the draw.

“We performed really well in a hard environment to play in,” said Head Coach Simon Brown. “We have not lost in our last five games (2-0-3); hopefully we can make a deep run in the playoffs.”