Waynesburg University midfielder Sarpong Kwabiah was firing on all cylinders with his brace in Waynesburg’s gritty 3-2 victory over Penn College on Sunday.

“I’ve been wanting to test keepers with shots,” Kwabiah said.

Kwabiah had five shots, three of which were on goal, and two turned into Yellow Jackets scores. This includes the game winner in the 86th minute.

An 83rd minute Penn College equalizer took away Waynesburg’s two-goal first half lead, but Waynesburg forward Josh Smith was fouled in the box on a rash tackle from Logan Berfield, causing the Yellow Jackets to earn a penalty.

Kwabiah was called to the penalty spot, with his shot going opposite to the goalkeeper’s dive, burying it in the bottom right corner to seal the match in favor of the Yellow Jackets.

The offense for a second time this season put up three goals, with two being within the first 20 minutes of play.

“We want to win individual moments,” head coach Treg Lunger said. “We wanted to make sure we were that team and kept Penn College on the backfoot.”

Kwabiah got his first goal of the season 14 minutes in when a pass from forward Esteban Carvajal slipped through the defense, finding Kwabiah in loads of space on the left edge. He then found the back of the net through the keeper’s legs to give Waynesburg the early advantage.

Waynesburg continued to pepper the left side of the pitch, with John Engel finding room, shifting by a defender, then sending a right boot curler into the bottom right corner to double the Yellow Jackets lead just five minutes after Kwabiah.

“Getting [Engel and Kwabiah] involved is huge,” Lunger said. “We made changes to help produce better moments for them, and they took advantage of those.”

The half stayed dormant for either side after the early flurry, but Penn College struck back late in the second half with two quick goals in succession.

The first came in the 74th minute. Later in the 83rd minute, chaos ensued in the box on a right corner delivery. Goalkeeper Zach Reed attempted to punch the ball away, but a multi-player collision allowed the ball to trickle down to Penn for the tying goal.

The game became more frantic, as both teams scrambled quickly to find the game winner. In the 85th minute, a rough tackle from forward Matthew Serrano left Penn College with a free kick a few yards outside the box, but Waynesburg’s wall held firm and blocked a low shot on the free kick.

The ensuing counterattack left Smith with acres of space to run through, blazing by the defenders before getting shoved in the back inside the box for a penalty.

Kwabiah lined up from the spot and delivered a strike to the bottom right corner, fooling the keeper and reinstating the Waynesburg lead.

A late scuffle between Kwabiah and Penn College’s Connor Dunne, which resulted in mutual yellow cards, was the last action of the afternoon, as the Yellow Jackets avoided a late scare from the Wildcats.

Waynesburg begins conference play in the midweek, visiting Chatham on Wednesday. The Cougars were one of five conference ties Waynesburg had last year.

“We’re focused on us,” Lunger said. “We want to reproduce what we’ve been doing for the past couple matches.”

The game begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at UPMC Graham Field in Pittsburgh.