Men's Soccer Advance to Semifinals

The Heart of America Conference Tournament kicked off for the Pioneers this afternoon. MNU won 1-0 in double overtime. After finishing as regular season champions, MNU is the #1 seed in the tournament. This gave them a bye in the opening rounds. William Penn defeated Culver-Stockton in the opening round to advance to today's quarterfinal matchup. In their first meeting this year, the Pioneers handed the Statesmen a 6-1 loss and they had a 3-0 lead by the 18th minute. Today's match took on a much different look. 

MNU controlled the match in every phase. They created chances but unlike the last meeting nothing was finding the back of the net. WPU's goalkeeper, Caleb Pipes-Goulsbra had an outstanding game and the Statesmen worked extremely hard to keep the MNU offense frustrated. Conference freshman of the year Nenad Markovic came into the match with 15 goals on the year. WPU's game plan to defend with numbers and then counter through Markovic was apparent early on. All-Conference defender Johannes Keisers, along with Jonathan Taylor and Austin Geist, did well to keep Markovic under wraps. The key for MNU was that they did not get frustrated or rattled as chance after chance went missing. A goal seemed destined to come but as the game wore on it appeared as if that may not happen. As the regulation time and both overtime periods wore on it seemed like penalty kicks were eminent. And then the goal did come.

With just seconds left in the second overtime period MNU was fouled near the half. A yellow card was issued to MNU's Eduardo Heringer which stopped the clock. Matias Cabello played a long ball into the box. A headed clearance went wide and in desperation Felipe Abreu sent a bicycle kick back into the area. Etienne Proult was there and his subsequent header found its way to Taylor who without hesitation smashed a half volley into the back of the net from close range for the golden goal. Just 12 seconds showed on the clock and the Pioneers advance to the semifinal on Wednesday.

For the game MNU outshot WPU 25-4, with shots on goal being 10-1. Pipes-Goulsbra had 9 saves in the match. MNU's Yann Passet earned the shutout victory making just one save. William Penn ends its season with a record of 8-10-1. MNU is now 15-2-1. The conference semifinal will be on Wednesday, November 9th at 1:00pm on Pioneer Field vs. Missouri Valley, who advanced to face MNU with a 2-1 victory over Central Methodist in another quarterfinal.