WINFIELD, Kan. - After seeing its home opener postponed due to lightning passing through Fulton on Friday night, William Woods (2-1-2) recovered from an 11th-minute shock to deliver a dominant performance at Southwestern College (0-2) on Saturday, with four different Owls scoring in a 4-1 win.
Southwestern had the better of the possession in the early going, creating three chances on goal inside the opening quarter hour. None of the chances seriously tested
Wil Rieves, but the third of the chances sent the match briefly into chaos.
As
Josh Seyer was tracking back in the center of the Woods defense on a Moundbuilder counter attack, he checked his run as a cross came in from the right wing. As Seyer partially cleared the cross, he collided with two attacking players as well as one of his own teammates and fell to the turf.
Immediately as Rieves saved the shot from Marcos Benavidez, the official called the match to a halt and urged the athletic training staff onto the field. Seyer was helped off the pitch and transported to the hospital for evaluation, with head coach
Tommy Nienhaus accompanying him.
Despite the absence of Nienhaus and the loss of their center back, the Owls quickly settled into a groove and struck for the opening goal in the 17th minute. Woods forced a turnover as Southwestern attempted to clear the defensive third and after a string of nice passes found
Charlie Williams. The Birmingham sophomore carved effortlessly through the Builder defense then snuck a shot across to the back post.
The Owls controlled the remainder of the first half, but Southwestern was able to find a surprise equalizer in the 45th minute. Woods surrendered a free kick 40 yards out, and despite defending it well, the Owls gave up a throw in followed quickly by a corner kick. Connor Inlow found a narrow opening at the back post and knocked the inswinger from Sami Mori home.
"We scored and had control of the match until the last 10 seconds and got sloppy," said assistant coach
Ivan Lloay. "We corrected ourselves at halftime and played the second half to our identity, which led to three goals in 18 minutes. Our teamwork was great today."
WWU came out of the break fired up and grabbed the lead back in the 54th minute. After a corner kick by
Pedro Salmon wasn't converted, the Owls held on to possession and recycled the attack back out on the right wing, on the foot of Salmon. His shot was blocked at the near post, but
Lubos Polacko was one of a crowd of Owls waiting in the six-yard-box to clean up the mess.
Miles Andrews doubled the lead for the Owls in the 60th minute, slotting home a low cross from
Kyle Kaemmerer from the left wing. The Jefferson City sophomore then turned helper with a low cross from the right wing that found the foot of
David Fink for the easy tap-in.
The Owls held Southwestern to just one shot over the final half hour, cruising to the win.
"Josh's injury is unfortunate, but I'm really proud of Ivan and Vic (Vechi) for stepping up and holding the standard," said Nienhaus after the match. "Southwestern forced us to be patient with possession and while it took some time, we figured it out. Hats off to the boys!"
Woods returns for a second attempt at its home opener on Sunday, hosting Nienhaus's former squad University of Jamestown in a 1:30 kickoff.
