WPU in Win Column with Shutout of Harris-Stowe State

William Penn Women’s Athletics

St. Louis, Mo.–Camila Parra (Fr., Brisbane, Australia, Biology) scored as the Statesmen women’s soccer team won its first game of 2014, defeating Harris-Stowe State in non-conference play Saturday.

Despite only tallying three shots in the first half, William Penn (1-1) managed the game’s lone goal prior to halftime as Parra scored off a pass from Vanessa Martinez (Las Vegas, Nev., Communications) in the 40th minute.

The visiting offense was more active in the second stanza (12 shots), but failed to put anything else in the net. The defense, paced by goalkeeper Kelly Button (Sr., Tucson, Ariz., Business Management) with three saves, held strong to complete the shutout. H-SS (0-1) was limited to four shots.

Parra finished with a team-best five shots.

“I felt we came out of the blocks very slowly and we were not able to work the ball around hardly at all with poor execution of control, connecting passes, and our overall movement,” Head Coach Willie McGowan said. “It took us until the second half before we settled into the game, but we did grab an important goal right before halftime to allow us to relax.”

“In the second half, we controlled the vast majority of the play and should have scored a few more times to put the game beyond reach, but we are still a little goal-shy and are rushing things in front of goal,” McGowan added. “Overall, we have a lot of positives to take from our second half of play and we will learn from our mistakes for tomorrow’s matchup.”

Next Up–William Penn travels to Belleville, Ill. Sunday to face Lindenwood-Belleville at 1 p.m.