WPU Matches Best Unbeaten Start in School History with 6-0 Win Over Owls
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen men’s soccer team was in control all afternoon and into the evening as it defeated William Woods 6-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
No. 11 WPU (7-0-5, 5-0-3 Heart) posted a 25-8 advantage in shots over the Owls (4-6-1, 2-5-1 Heart) en route to matching the 2024 squad (11-0-1) by being undefeated through its first 12 contests.
The hosts went right to work in picking up their eighth shutout of the fall (sixth in the last seven games). Max Mayer (Jr., Wendover, England, Exercise Science) did the damage as he scored on a tricky angle at the 3:52 mark off a pass from Jarred Hendricks (Sr., Cape Town, South Africa, Exercise Science).
Nick Nkansa-Dwamena (So., London, England, Business Management) then slipped a ball into the netting in the 17th minute with Will Couch (Sr., Burnley, England, Sports Management) receiving the assist, while Hector Bastos (So., Vitoria, Brazil, Computer Science) made it 3-0 at the 35:24 juncture with Yusei Suzaki (So., Nagoya, Japan, General Accounting) being credited with the help.
Despite a 6-5 deficit in shots at the break, the navy and gold actually held a 3-0 advantage heading to the locker room.
Hendricks opened the post-intermission tallies in the 60th minute by finishing off a rebounded shot by Javier Perez (So., Alicante, Spain, Business Management).
Alexander Greaves (Sr., Hertford, England, Sports Management) then capped William Penn’s extraordinary performance with back-to-back goals, doing so at the 65:50 mark and 67:04 mark. His brace came courtesy of two assists from Bastos.
The final 45 minutes saw William Penn outshoot the Owls 20-2.
Sil Milder (Fr., Arnhem, Netherlands, Sports Management) ended the game with three saves for his shutout.
“This was a very complete performance from the guys, who listened to everything we asked them to do, and then did it,” Head Coach Joe Minton said. “We need to stay level and not get ahead of ourselves here, though. We need to continue with this one-game-at-a-time mentality, but I extremely proud of the players today.”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Tuesday to host Missouri Valley in Heart play at 7:30 p.m.
