Mongan Scores Late as William Penn Blanks Benedictine

Atchison, Kan.--Luigi Mongan (Jr., Manchester, England, Business Management) tallied the only goal of the game as the Statesmen men's soccer team remained unblemished in Heart of America Athletic Conference play with a 1-0 victory over Benedictine Saturday.

#14 WPU (8-1-4, 3-0-3 Heart), which is 4-0-3 in its last seven outings, outshot the Ravens (7-3-2, 3-2-1 Heart) by a slim 12-11 margin, including a 7-3 mark in the first half.

Despite the 10 tries, neither team found the back of the net in the opening period.

The hosts then took control of the contest with eight unanswered shots over the first 23 minutes of the second half.  The Statesmen finally answered by recording a pair of tries before eventually producing the lone tally.

Lukas Koch (Grad., Moers, Germany, Master's of Sports Management) opened the sequence with a throw-in towards the box.

The ball was headed towards Mongan who then sent it outside.  Miguel Menendez (Fr., Oveido, Spain, Wellness and Recreation) tracked it down and immediately punched it back to the middle where Mongan was cutting towards the goal.  The junior was the first to the ball and drove it into the netting with 9:20 left in regulation.

Two minutes later, a Raven player earned his second yellow, putting the home team down a player.  The navy and gold took advantage and dominated the remaining minutes, headlined by two more shots down the stretch.

The physical bout featured 10 yellow cards and 28 fouls.  WPU also held a 5-1 edge in corner kicks over BC.

Joseph Kitengie (Grad., Benoni, South Africa, Master's of Organizational Leadership) topped the victors with three shots, while Mongan, Menendez, and Jaime Rozalen (Fr., Valencia, Spain, Business Management) all added two attempts.

Sean Bohan (Jr., Dublin, Ireland, Business Management) headlined the defensive effort with five saves to record his sixth shutout of the campaign.

"We had to dig deep today to overcome suspensions and injuries," Head Coach Simon Brown said.  "Benedictine is a top team and was ahead of us in the conference standings, so we knew it was an important game at a tough place.  We have had a habit of scoring late goals which has come from the hard work the boys did over the summer, and it is paying dividends right now.  It is important for us stay grounded and have another performance against Mount Mercy next Wednesday."

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Wednesday to face Mount Mercy in Heart action at 7:30 p.m.