WPU Fails to Capitalize on Chances in Loss to William Carey

Hattiesburg, Miss.--The Statesmen men's soccer team produced enough opportunities to knock off yet another ranked foe, but unfortunately could not finish them off as it fell 3-0 to #9 William Carey Monday.

William Penn (4-1-1) suffered its first loss of the fall despite doubling the Crusaders in shots, 16-8.  Of those 16 attempts, unfortunately only two were on frame, including one each from Emre Baris (Fr., Dortmund, Germany, Business Management) and Strahinjia Camagic (Fr., Kraljevo, Serbia, Undecided).

WCU (3-1-1) put the Statesmen on their heels right away as it opened the scoring just 43 seconds in and then made it 2-0 in the 24th minute.

The visitors, who were playing in 90-plus degree heat for the second time in less than 48 hours, could not chip away at the lead.  The Crusaders eventually put the game away with another goal at the 56:14 mark.

Eight different Statesmen finished with a shot, including five with multiple attempts.  Conor Keylock (So., Johannesburg, South Africa, Sports Management) led the squad with four shots, while Jaime Rozalen (Fr., Valencia, Spain) contributed three more.

"We did not start the game well," Head Coach Simon Brown said.  "Going down against a top-10 team is always difficult. I think playing two games in such a short time period caught up to us.  We put ourselves in position to win, but were poor in front of the goal.  You have to take advantage of those chances against a team like William Carey.  They were really efficient and showed their quality despite having half as many chances as us."

"We need to learn to play back-to-back tough games like we do in the national tournament," Brown added.  "We will enjoy some time off before another tough test against Briar Cliff."

Next Up: William Penn continues its six-game road trip by traveling to Sioux City Saturday to face Briar Cliff at 3:30 p.m.