Statesmen Defeat Defending Champion MidAmerica Nazarene

Oskaloosa--The Statesmen men's soccer team continued its record-breaking start as it posted a 2-0 victory over defending NAIA national champion MidAmerica Nazarene in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday. 

#8 WPU (9-0-1, 3-0-0) was outshot 13-8 by #10 MidAmerica Nazarene (3-3-3, 0-2-1), but capitalized on two chances to find the back of the net. 

William Penn broke through when Connor O'Reilly (Sr., Letterkenny, Ireland, General Accounting) found a ball deflected off an MNU defender, kicking it past the goalkeeper's hands at the 29:35 mark.

Still up 1-0 in the early moments of the second period, the Statesmen extended their lead in the 59th minute when Hugo Cornish (So., Sydney, Australia, Business Management) crossed the ball into John-Joe Mullane (Jr., Kent, England), who flicked it into the net. 

Stef Snijders (Grad., Tubbergen, The Netherlands, Master's of Sports Management) led WPU's offensive charge with two shots.  Cornish, O'Reilly, and Mullane all added one attempt, as did Leighton Jameson (Jr., Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Psychology, Miguel Menendez (Fr., Oviedo, Spain, Wellness and Recreation), and Albert Feixas (Fr., Santa Coloma de Farners, Spain, Exercise Science).

Sean Bohan (Sr., Dublin, Ireland, Business Management) made three saves to record his fourth shutout in five matches.

"We are happy to get out of a top-ten game with a positive result," said Head Coach Simon Brown.  "It is really hard to win in this conference and it is really hard to play in this conference away from home. We did that today, so we are happy for the guys."

Next Up: William Penn plays Mount Mercy next Saturday in Cedar Rapids at Hadzic Field in Heart action at 3:30 p.m