Columbia, Mo. – The Cougar men's soccer team defeated William Penn University by the score of 3-2 on Sunday afternoon. Columbia improves to 3-1 with the win while the Statesmen fall to 2-2-1.

The Cougars got off to a quick start as Piero Malerba put in a rebounded shot by Mark Steiniger in the 6^th minute of play.

Vadim Cojocov would break away to score his team leading 4^th goal of the season in the 13^th minute of play, to give the Cougars an early 2-0 advantage over the Statesmen. Matija Ceraj picked up his first assist of the season on the goal.

William Penn cut the deficit in the 26^th minute as Angelo Kelly found the back of the net. Despite outshooting the Cougars, 8-6 in the half, Columbia would take a 2-1 advantage into the halftime break.

After a fairly quite second half, William Penn's, Angus Dibley would knot the score at two in the 78^th minute. However, the Cougars regained the lead as Mitchell Conning netted his second goal of the season two minutes later. Chang Yang and Luiz Guilherme Stein were credited with assists.

Over the next 10 minutes of play, both teams continued to apply pressure, but the Cougars would be able to hold on for their third victory of the season.

Ian McTurk (2-0) started and earned the win in goal for Columbia, posting five saves on the afternoon. The Statesman totaled 13 shots (eight on-goal) for the game, compared to 14 shots for the Cougars (eight on-goal).

The Cougars will hit the road, Wednesday, September 9^th to take on 7^th-ranked Missouri Valley College. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m. in Marshall, Mo.