WPU Salvages Tie with Last-Second PK Goal

Dubuque--The Statesmen men's soccer team faced another league challenger on the road and again came away with a draw as it tied Clarke 2-2 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Wednesday.

#15 William Penn (5-1-3, 0-0-2 Heart) earned its second tie in as many Heart contests, despite being outshot 17-15.  Looking down the barrel of a loss to undefeated Clarke (4-0-3, 1-0-1 Heart), the navy and gold found a way in the final minute with a penalty-kick score by Edan Sears (Jr., Telford, England, Sports Management).

The Pride opened the evening with a goal at the 20:08 mark, but less than three minutes later, the Statesmen responded.  Lukas Koch (Sr., Moers, Germany, Master's of Sports Management) sent a deep throw-in into the box and before the CU goalkeeper could pull it down, Dimitrije Jolovic (Fr., Raska, Serbia, Business Management) headed it into the unguarded goal to even the score at 1-1.

The game remained tied midway through the second half, until the home squad again went on top in the 78th minute.

William Penn refused to go quietly, however, peppering the opposing goal four times in the final seven minutes.  Inside of the final minute of regulation, the Statesmen produced one last attack with Luigi Mongan (Jr., Manchester, England, Business Management) slipping through into the box.  Out of desperation, a Pride player pulled him down from behind, garnering a card and a penalty kick for WPU.

Sears was chosen to take the PK and he drilled a shot into the right-corner netting for the equalizer.  Clarke tried to manufacture a winning attack, but time ran out before it could get a shot off.

Sears led the offense with five shots (three on goal), while the quartet of Jolovic, Timothy King (Jr., London, England, Biology), Emre Baris (Fr., Dortmund, Germany, Business Management), and Joseph Kitengie (Sr., Benoni, South Africa, Master's of Organizational Leadership) each managed two shots apiece.

Sean Bohan (Jr., Dublin, Ireland, Business Management) recorded four saves in the draw.

"Clarke is a very good team, and hopefully after this game will get some respect nationally," Head Coach Simon Brown said.  "We got very lucky to get the PK in the final seconds.  Our guys need to be ready for these away games and for teams giving us everything they have in trying to knock us off and change their seasons.  After a month and six games on the road, we are looking forward to finally playing at home."

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Saturday to host Graceland in Heart play at 3:30 p.m.