Two Unanswered Goals See Statesmen Top Mustangs

Cedar Rapids — After a long drive home from a disappointing loss to the Pioneers, the Statesmen of William Penn University travelled up north to take on the Mustangs in a clash of teams that were just about even in the Heart of America Athletic Conference standings entering Tuesday night. While the Statesmen started off slowly, they built momentum and scored two goals almost two-minute apart to win 3-1. William Penn are now 3-4 overall and 3-2 in Heart Play.

The first half saw WPU a bit on the back foot. The Mustangs attacked in the first few minutes and they got the first shot away. The navy and gold got back into it with two shots in quick succession from Kenedy Deviska (Jr., Pignon, Haiti, Wellness & Recreation) and Shalon Knight (Jr., Swetes Village, Antigua and Barbuda, Digital Communication), with Deviska’s getting saved and Knight’s effort missing the goal. Despite the two shots, WPU struggled at times to bring the ball forward as the Mustangs took away the long passes to the corners.

Neither side could generate any shots for quite some time as the midfield became hotly contested. Eventually Cranston McDonald (So., Naples, Fla., Biology) got an opportunity but his shot was scooped up by the keeper. The Mustangs collected a corner and got good shot away in the 42nd minute but the backline helped to reflect it away from Rafael Martins (Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.). As the first 45 started to draw to a close, Hugo Lorenzo (Fr., Madrid, Spain) had a shot saved and McDonald missed wide.

At the break, William Penn had a 6-4 shot advantage and a 4-3 shots on goal edge. Martins made three saves as the teams broke for the intermission.

The pep-talk leading into the second 45 got the team fired up because the navy and gold came out firing. Deviska forced a save on the first passage of play after the kickoff and Nick Serrano (Jr., Inglewood, Calif.) also had a stab that was punched over the bar for a corner. Just as if they were on the practice field, Deviska took the ensuing corner kick and gave it to Serrano who was sitting on the top corner of the 18-yard box. Smoothly putting the ball in his wheelhouse, he blasted it to the far post and into the net to put the Statesmen up 1-0. His first of the year rewarded the strong start but the home side came back.

MMU generated two kick shots but both sailed high. The teams exchanged chances but the Mustangs made another rush that saw them hit the crossbar before they earned a corner off of the next shot. Off that, the second ball fell to one of their forward players who tied the game at 1-1 just after the hour mark of the contest.

Digging deep, William Penn started to take control again and a flurry of shots were sent towards the net with 21 minutes to go. Serrano’s attempt was saved while McDonald’s rang off the top bar. 10 seconds later, Knight’s shot was collected by the Mount Mercy keeper. Donaciano Mesina (Sr., Inglewood, Calif., Sports Management) thought he had scored a brilliant free-kick goal but an offside whistle ended the celebrations early.

Korby Ring (So., Independence, Mo., Political Science) took a shot wide with 19 minutes to go, as the Statesmen continued to win the ball in their own end and push it into the final third. Such a play led to a long throw from Messina, who watched Luke Andrews (Jr., Andover, England) flick it up and in to the far corner for a 2-1 lead for the navy and gold, also his first tally of the year.

Emotions began to run high, which resulted in two yellow cards on WPU. The referee was able to get both sides to calm down and play resumed, with the visitors pressing more, looking for a third goal. On a ball deep into the corner, a shot was blocked and the rebound was played towards the top of the box, with an on-coming Milton Magana (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.,) bending it into the back of the net to make it 3-1, with the junior netting his second goal of the campaign.

Things became a littler dicey for the Statesmen as Victor Hernandez (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif., Exercise Science) was shown a red card with 13 minutes to go. The Mustangs tried to rally but the defense was superb for the navy and gold, not allowing a shot on target in the final 10 minutes and milking the clock when they earned possession. With the final whistle, the Statesmen collected a big bounce back win.

The Statesmen finished the game with 21 shots in total, 15 alone in the second 45. 13 of those 21 for the game were on target and the team had six corner kicks compared to four for the Mustangs.

McDonald impressed with three shots, one on target, for the night. Deviska tied that mark with three shots, two on goal, and an assist. Magana and Serrano also had three shots on, Magana getting two on and Serrano hitting the frame with all three. Martins made four saves, only one in the second half as the defense stepped up for him.

“The boys showed a lot of fight tonight,” said Head Coach Simon Brown. “They had everything against them, coming off a loss, being away from home, and playing against an informed team. I’m very proud of them, and hopefully they bring this confidence into our game against Baker on Saturday for homecoming.”

Next Up: It is Homecoming weekend and the Statesmen will be tested by the pre-season #10 Baker on Drost Field this Saturday at 2:30 p.m.