Late Penalty Leads to Statesmen Win

Orange City--The William Penn men's soccer team concluded their weekend at the Northwestern Pizza Ranch Classic with a matchup against the Northwestern Red Raiders.

It took some extra time to do it, but the Statesmen earned their fourth victory of the year with a 3-2 win in overtime.

Kenedy Deviska (Sr., Pignon, Haiti) set an early tone on offense for the navy and gold, ripping off three early shots in the first 10 minutes. None of those shots found a home in the back of the net, but it was far from the last time Deviska made his presence felt.

The Red Raiders matched William Penn shot for shot in the first half, but neither team could break through as both goalies did a wonderful job of turning away every on target shot.

Finally, with just over 90 seconds to go in the first half, Northwestern finally got on the scoreboard with a goal to give them a 1-0 advantage going into halftime.

It didn't take long into the second half for the Statesmen to get that goal right back. After Chanin Olandin (Fr., Oslo, Norway)forced the Red Raider keeper to make a save, Deviska finally drove one home to even things up 1-1. Olandin received an assist on Deviska's second score of the season.

Not even two minutes later, Aidan Twohig (Jr., Middlesbrough, England) got in on the scoring to give the Statesmen their first lead of the match. The goal was Twohig's first in navy and gold.

Needing 40 minutes of clean defense to close out the game, William Penn did not allow a shot for another 20 minutes. Unfortunately, when they finally did, it led to a Northwestern equalizer that tied the game up once again at 2-2.

The rest of the half stayed quiet, with only one shot being taken from either side that sent the game into overtime.

After only one shot was taken in the first four minutes of overtime, but a red card assessed to William Penn in the 94th minute did not provide a very positive outlook for the rest of the contest. Until Deviska was fouled in the penalty box, that is. Deviska stepped up the 12 yard mark and put a stamp on the game, as his second goal of the game gave the Statesmen a 3-2 victory.

William Penn outshot Northwestern 14-10, with eight of their shots coming on target. Miguel Barbosa (Grad, Sao Paulo, Brazil) earned two saves on the night.

"Our boys love to do things the hard way, going down a goal and to 10 men again," said Head Coach Simon Brown. "I'm happy we got the wins and bounced back this weekend after the tough loss on Wednesday. We will look to rest up this week before taking on #4 Columbia at home on Saturday."

What's Next: The Statesmen will have a week to rest up before the #4 Columbia Cougars come to town. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 PM next Saturday.