William Penn Opens League Play with Win Over Culver-Stockton
Oskaloosa–A goal just before halftime opened the floodgates for the Statesmen men’s soccer team as it claimed a 3-1 Heart of America Athletic Conference win over Culver-Stockton Wednesday.
In a game that was pushed back nearly an hour because of a thunderstorm that blew through the area prior to the women’s contest, WPU (4-2, 1-0 Heart) controlled action from the opening whistle. The hosts outshot the Wildcats (2-6, 0-1 Heart) by a 23-6 tally, headlined by a 14-2 edge in shots on goal.
Despite numerous early chances, the Statesmen were held scoreless through 42 minutes of action, but Ethan Martinez (Fr., Kansas City, Kan., Business Management) broke the tie as he finished off a beautiful bouncing cross from Bernardo Lima (Sr., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Exercise Science) at the 42:40 mark. Martinez now has three goals on the year.
Lima then mixed it up a bit again right after intermission as he centered another pass in front of the goal. Kenedy Deviska (So., Pignon, Haiti, Wellness and Recreation) did not succeed on his first attempt, but took the rebound off the C-SC goalkeeper and punched it into the netting for a 2-0 lead in the 50th minute. Deviska’s goal is his team-leading fifth of 2019, while Lima now has five assists, which also tops WPU.
The Wildcats trimmed the margin to one on a penalty-kick goal in the 69th minute, but the navy and gold put to the game to bed at the 74:45 mark. On a counter-attack, Amgad Hassan (Sr., Falls Church, Va., Computer Science) dribbled the ball nearly half the length of the field and then delivered a short shot at the goal. Unfortunately for him, it was stopped by the keeper, but the ball bounded back out and right to the feet of Lukas Koch (Fr., Moers, Germany, Undecided) who one-timed it across the line to wrap up the night’s scoring.
It is the second assist of the campaign for Hassan and the second goal for Koch.
Eduardo Bonatto (Sr., Rio Grande, Brazil, Business Management) did not score, but tallied a team-high six shots, while Austin Munoz (Sr., Harrisville, Utah, Sports Management) permitted the penalty-kick goal, but nothing else. The senior keeper saved one shot in a quiet evening.
“This was a great start to conference play,” Head Coach Jaymee Highcock said. “Culver-Stockton is always a physical team and I thought we matched them in this element, and then our quality shone through. We played some great soccer and fully deserved the victory. It was great to watch our team play so well this evening.”
“All eyes are now on Benedictine for Saturday,” Highcock added. “We want to take care of business on the road and come back with a victory.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Atchison, Kan. Saturday to face Benedictine in Heart play at 7 p.m.
