WPU Pushes Defending National Champion Keiser to OT

Knoxville, Tenn.--The Statesmen men's lacrosse team nearly pulled off the biggest win in program history, but fell just short in a 13-12 overtime loss to #1 Keiser (Fla.) in non-conference play Saturday.

#8 William Penn (2-1) overcame a five-goal deficit and actually took the lead against the defending NAIA Invitational champion Seahawks, but could not hold them off in the final minutes.

The navy and gold were outshot 51-37, but were much more accurate with their attempts, putting 21 on target (56.7% shots on goal), while KU (3-0) had 47.1% of its tries go inside the pipes (24-for-51).

In the early going, both sides struggled to find the netting with Keiser finally breaking through after nearly eight minutes had transpired.  The Seahawks then added two more tallies before William Penn got on the board as Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) scored consecutive unassisted goals.  Unfortunately, Keiser answered with a pair of scores of its own for a 5-2 advantage after one quarter of play.

Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) opened the second period with an unassisted goal, while the Seahawks put two away.  Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) then did the work himself before Romero closed the gap to two with another unassisted goal.

Following a KU score, just 26 seconds later, Jeff Kohl (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Business Management) put in a pass from Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology) as the Statesmen trimmed the margin to two at 8-6 entering intermission.

Keiser came out of the locker room determined to prove it was still the best team in the NAIA and dominated the first 91 seconds of the third quarter with three quick scores.

After the dust settled, the Statesmen were suddenly trailing by a game-high five goals.  Undeterred, however, William Penn returned the favor a minute later as Christensen slotted home a goal with no help.

Another long scoreless drought (over 10 minutes long) ensued before Blasingame fed Putzier who scored with 2:01 on the clock.  Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) wrapped up a wild third quarter with an unassisted goal and it was a brand-new contest entering the final 15 minutes of regulation at 11-9 in favor of KU.

Seth Read (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Psychology) (unassisted) continued the onslaught two minutes in, while Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) completed the comeback, tying the game off a distribution from Eli Dillon (Sr., Portland, Ore., Business Management).  With 6:04 still left, Kohl again beat the KU keeper and William Penn led the defending champs 12-11.

The Seahawks unfortunately could only be contained for so long, eventually tying the matchup with 2:35 to go and overtime was forced.

WPU won the opening faceoff in the extra period, but immediately turned the ball over.  Less than a minute later--just 1:07 into the sudden-death session--Keiser extinguished William Penn's hopes with the game-winner.

Putzier led the charge with three goals, while Romero and Kohl both scored twice.  Collin Baliva (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Mechanical Engineering) picked up a squad-best five ground balls.  Eric Garigan (Grad., Tucson, Ariz., Master's of Organizational Leadership) stopped 11 shots in the loss, while defensively, the Statesmen stayed close by forcing 19 Keiser turnovers (14 for WPU).

The navy and gold nearly won despite only winning eight of the 27 faceoffs.  The Seahawks also successfully cleared the ball out of their zone 12 out of 13 times, while William Penn was 16-for-21.

Next Up: William Penn travels to St. Louis, Mo. next Sunday to face Lourdes (Ohio) in non-conference action at 2 p.m.