EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University men's soccer team controlled the majority of the play on Tuesday night as it defeated visiting Penn College 2-0 in the final non-conference game of the regular season at Bruggeworth Field.

Goals by Jeffrey Eager-Heffner (Blandon, PA/Fleetwood Area) and Gabriel Nieves (Yorktown Heights, NY/Lakeland Senior) provided the necessary finishing for the victory on a night when the Colonels outshot the Wildcats 29-3.

Wilkes improved to 7-7-3 overall on the season with the victory and finished its regular season home slate with a 4-2-2 mark. Penn College dropped to 2-12-3 overall.

The Colonels opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Nieves found Eager-Heffner with a through ball across the top of the box. The junior collected the pass in space and directed a shot past the goalkeeper into the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Wilkes added an insurance goal in the 53rd minute when freshman Matthew Horwedel (Delanson, NY/Schalmont Senior) fired a perfect through ball from the Wilkes side of the field to a streaking Nieves up the middle of the Wildcats defense. The sophomore collected the ball and made a touch past the goalkeeper at the top of the box and touched a left footed shot into the empty net for the 2-0 lead.

The Colonels kept the pressure on for the remainder of the second half until the final horn sounded. In all, 22 Colonels saw the field. Nieves led the offense with five shots and three points on a goal and an assist. Danny McGinley (Brodheadsville, PA/Pleasant Valley) fired four shots while Lucas Snedeker (Scott Township, PA/Lakeland) and Ryan Marr (Taneytown, MD/Francis Scott Key) each added three shots.

Zach Tone (Easton, PA/Easton Area) earned the victory as he made two saves in the first half and played the first 62:42. Nick Kinzler (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) entered to play the final 27:18 as the two combined in goal for the shutout.

The Colonels travel to Delaware Valley on Saturday to face the Aggies in the final regular season game, a Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom contest at 1:00 p.m. With a tie or win Wilkes would finish at or above .500 and be eligible for an Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament bid.