Pioneers Open Conference Play with Win

The MNU Men's Soccer team kicked off the conference schedule this afternoon with a tidy 6-1 win. The Heart of America Conference is arguably the top conference in the country, and any chance to win that title means that each and every game must be valued. William Penn came into town boasting a 3-2 record having played a solid schedule thus far. The Statesmen ran into a buzz saw with the Pioneers still smarting from their first loss of the season last weekend.

MNU started the game well and immediately began creating chances. In just the 3rd minute of the game, Tanner Hunjak finished with a header from a beautiful cross played in by Matias Cabello. In the 13th minute, Eduardo Heringer played a perfect ball into space and Etienne Proult beat the keeper. Just 5 minutes later it was 3-0. A sequence of one touch passes led to Dominic Harrington being in on goal with the just the keeper to beat. His shot was saved but Felipe Abreu was there to blast it home from close range. William Penn looked shell shocked at this point but they did well to pick themselves up and begin to look for a way into the game. In the 38th minute, it looked like they may have done it. A direct ball played into the area was not dealt with well and WPU's Anfernee Houston found himself 1 on 1 with MNU goalkeeper Yann Passet. He finished the chance to make the score 3-1. The Pioneer response was exactly what you want to see. In the next 6 minutes of the game they scored two goals to make the score 5-1 headed into the break. Trae Hunjak took a corner kick clearance and finished with a banger to the upper corner in the 41st minute. Just before the half, Clark Campbell then took his turn to finish with a nice shot to the far post after Andrew McClanahan had played him in.

The second half started with the same intensity but MNU's sixth goal took the sting out of the Statesmen. After a nice sequence of passes, Harrington played Tanner Hunjak into the box. His initial shot was saved but he collected his own rebound and finished to secure his brace. Both coaches were able to clear the benches and no more goals were scored in the game. 

For the game MNU outshot WPU 22-9, with shots on goal being 11-4. The William Penn goalkeeper was credited with 5 saves. Passet had 3 saves for MNU. The Statesmen fall to 3-3 (0-1) on the season.  MNU moves to 4-1-1 (1-0). Next up is a top ten matchup with Missouri Valley. The game is scheduled for 4:30 on Wednesday, September 21st at Pioneer Field.