Statesmen Take Weather-Shortened Contest for First Heart Victory

Oskaloosa--Despite being a man down for most of the second half, the William Penn men's soccer team kept its foe at bay and eventually Mother Nature took care of the rest in a 2-0 Heart of America Athletic Conference win over Graceland Saturday.

#15 WPU (6-1-3, 1-0-2 Heart) outshot the Yellowjackets 13-10, but actually lost the shots on goal battle 6-5.

The hosts took an early lead as Edan Sears (Jr., Telford, England, Sports Management) headed in a throw-in from Lukas Koch (Sr., Moers, Germany, Master's of Sports Management) just 4:37 into the contest.

The Statesmen entered halftime ahead 1-0, but that advantage was in seriously jeopardy as Daniel Wilson (Jr., Dublin, Ireland, Exercise Science) was ejected from play with his second yellow card only 19 seconds into the latter period.

Graceland (3-5-1, 1-2 Heart) went on the offensive over the next several minutes, but Sean Bohan (Jr., Dublin, Ireland, Business Management) and the defense stood tall.  Bohan finished with six saves Saturday.

The Statesmen eventually switched fields and Jaime Rozalen (Fr., Valencia, Spain, Business Management) took a point-blank shot, only for the GU goalkeeper to stop the attempt.  The ball bounded away from the goal, but Emre Baris (Fr., Dortmund, Germany, Business Management) collected it and drove a centering pass back into the box.

This time around, Timo Fankhauser (So., Bern, Switzerland, New Media) located it on the back post and sent it into the netting for an insurance goal at the 54:58 mark.

William Penn remained on top by two scores late into the battle and then weather entered the equation.  Lightning delayed the game and with more inclement weather coming, the game was officially called with 9:22 still left in regulation.

A total of 10 Statesmen produced a shot with Sears, Rozalen, and Strahinjia Camagic (Fr., Kraljevo, Serbia, Undecided) all leading the way with two apiece.

"We unfortunately will not be winning any sportsmanship awards this season with how many yellow and red cards we are receiving," Head Coach Simon Brown said.  "We make things terribly tough on ourselves with our game management.  With that said, we need to enjoy this win as it is incredibly difficult to win in this conference.  We will take the positives into the bye week and get ready for a tough game against a top-10 opponent."

Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Saturday to face #6 MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart action at noon.