WPU Knocked Out in Heart Semifinals, Drop First Game of Season

Oskaloosa–Despite dominating the 90 minutes on the pitch, the Statesmen men’s soccer team was ousted from the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship in the semifinal round via a 2-1 loss to No. 4 seed Missouri Valley Saturday.

No. 1 seed William Penn (11-1-8) outshot the Vikings 24-3, including an 8-2 mark in shots on goal. Unfortunately, the hosts only found the back of the net once.

WPU, which earned an automatic berth to nationals by winning the Heart’s regular season title, will now wait to find out who it will face and where for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round from November 19-21.

The Statesmen permitted MVU (11-4-4) to score the game’s first goal in the 18th minute. The Vikings were unfortunately then gifted their second score on an own goal in the 35th minute to go ahead 2-0 at the break.

William Penn, which held a 9-2 edge in shots prior to intermission, really turned up the offensive heat in the final 45 minutes with a 15-1 advantage.

The pressure eventually netted a goal, but it came late at the 84:11 mark. Nick Nkansa-Dwamena (So., London, England, Business Management) sent a ball into the box, which was mishandled by the Missouri Valley goalkeeper, allowing Jarred Hendricks (Sr., Cape Town, South Africa, Exercise Science) to tap it into the goal to cut the deficit in half.

Three shots and two corner kicks followed for WPU, but nothing resulted in an equalizer as the Statesmen walked off without a victory or a tie for the first time in 20 outings this fall.

Fourteen different William Penn players managed a shot with Hendricks and Rob Stoop (Jr., Bosch en Duin, Netherlands, Exercise Science) headlining the efforts with three each. Six others finished with two attempts.

The navy and gold also tallied nine corner kicks, compared to only two for MVU.