Statesmen Knocked Out of Heart Tourney in Quarterfinals

Oskaloosa--In a reversal of fortunes from a year ago, the William Penn men's soccer team was eliminated by a lower seed in the quarterfinal round of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship, falling 1-0 to #7 seed Mount Mercy Friday.

Despite the loss, #2 seed WPU (11-4-4), which is ranked #17 in the NAIA, is still expected to make the NAIA National Championship, but its seeding will unfortunately likely be affected due to the early league tourney exit.

Twelve months ago, the navy and gold enjoyed playing the part of spoiler as the #7 seed, knocking off #2 seed Missouri Valley en route to a huge postseason tournament run that secured a bid to nationals.  This time around, WPU was on the other end of the 2/7 upset.

Three weeks earlier, WPU and MMU (9-4-4) met at Drost Field with a much different outcome as the Statesmen scored a season high in goals in a 6-1 victory.  On Friday night, William Penn again owned a hefty advantage in shots at 16-7, but on Friday, the hosts could not find the back of the net.

The navy and gold had several golden opportunities, including getting a goal called back in the 31st minute due to an offsides violation.

Unfortunately, the Mustangs responded a minute later with the lone goal of the evening at the 31:12 mark.

Midway through the second period, William Penn was again in position to get on the board, but a penalty kick try was saved by Mount Mercy's goalkeeper.

A few minutes down the road, the Statesmen were the recipients of another gift as they went up a man following a red card on MMU.  The home squad was unable to find the equalizer over the next seven minutes and eventually lost that advantage as a red card was also issued to WPU.

The Statesmen battled to the very end, but failed to break even and will now await their postseason fate.

Luigi Mongan (Jr., Manchester, England, Business Management) and Edan Sears (Jr., Telford, England, Sports Management) both tallied a team-high three shots, while Sean Bohan (Jr., Dublin, Ireland, Business Management) saved three attempts in the loss.

"We just missed too many chances and that has been the story of our season--our inability to score," Head Coach Simon Brown said.  "We create more than enough chances every game, but for whatever reason, we do have the instinct to score goals.  Credit to Mount Mercy; they played with a fire in them, during and after the game, as if it was their last game, and we did not do the same."