William Penn Ends Regular Season with Loss to Park

Parkville, Mo.--In a game that did not affect the navy and gold in the league standings, the Statesmen men's soccer team fell 2-1 to Park in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.

#17 WPU (11-3-4, 6-2-3 Heart) lost its regular season finale despite outshooting the Pirates 11-10.  Entering the contest, William Penn was locked in as the #2 seed for the Heart Tournament, Presented by WinWon Technologies and will host #7 Mount Mercy in Oskaloosa next Friday in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m.  WPU defeated the Mustangs 6-1 at Drost Field back on October 11.

The Statesmen opened with the game's first two shots, but it was Park (7-4-3, 5-3-3 Heart) that scored first, doing so at the 19:06 mark.

The Pirates doubled their advantage in the 71st minute, while the visitors finally got on the board just over two minute later when Miguel Menendez (Fr., Oveido, Spain, Wellness and Recreation) scored unassisted.  A long ball was sent into the PU box and in the Pirates attempt to clear it out, Menendez picked off the pass and immediately fired it past the goalkeeper for WPU's lone score.

Menendez led the Statesmen with four shots, while Alessandro Bedei (Jr., Cesena, Italy, Business Management) added three more.

WPU recorded three shots and had two more corner kicks over the last several minutes, but failed to come up with the equalizer as it enters the postseason with just two league losses.

Sean Bohan (Jr., Dublin, Ireland, Business Management) finished with two saves Saturday.

"We had to rest players who were in card trouble and our lack of goals caught up to us," Head Coach Simon Brown said.  "Credit to Park, though; they were desperate to win and got it done.  Our young team needs to mature quickly as we head into the postseason."