William Penn Drops Road Contest to Chargers

Sioux City--The Statesmen women's soccer team could not rally back, dropping a non-conference matchup against the Briar Cliff Chargers 3-1 Friday.

William Penn (0-3) was outshot 22-7 by the Chargers (2-1); additionally, WPU lost the shots on goal battle 10-6.

The contest started off with a quick goal in favor of Briar Cliff that put the Statesmen on their heels. WPU was able to settle in and get some stops before Joy Pagel (Fr., Maring-Noviand, Germany, Psychology) found the back of the net at the 23:16 mark, with an assist from Graisy Greener (Sr., Ogden, Utah, Sociology) as the Statesmen evened up the score.

The rest of the first half was a lot of back and forth, until the Chargers found the goal in the 45th minute mark to take back the lead 2-1 going into half.

The William Penn defense was able to hold up Briar Cliff for most of the second half. Unfortunately, towards the end of the match, the Chargers were able tack on one more to put the game out of reach.

Pagel and Taylor Witthauer (Jr., Vancouver, Wash., Nursing) led the WPU offense with two shots each, while Megan Cox (Fr. Las Vegas, Nev., Undecided) recorded four saves, and Madeline Danielson (So. La Crescent, Minn., Exercise Science) recorded three of her own.

"We had a great effort in tough conditions," Head Coach Andy Commins said. "We overcame a shaky first half, to play our best half of the season in the second half. I remain excited about the improvement in this team."

Next Up: William Penn has a considerable break before its next game, traveling to Lamoni on September 14 to open up Heart of America Athletic Conference action against Graceland at 5 p.m.