Statesmen Open Heart Play with Win in Ohio

Mount Vernon, Ohio--The William Penn men's lacrosse team started Heart of America Athletic Conference play with a big 18-10 win over Mount Vernon Nazarene Saturday.

WPU (8-4, 1-0 Heart) outshot MVNU (7-2, 2-1 Heart) 43-35, while also winning the face-off (18-14) and ground ball (29-22) battles.

The Cougars got on the board early in the first period, but the 1-0 lead did not last long as Wyatt Christensen (Fr., Madison, Wis., Biology) found the back of the net with help from Breck Putzier (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Kinesiology) in a defensive first quarter that featured only two goals.

William Penn opened the second quarter with an unassisted goal from Kenny Bohney (Fr., Moorhead, Minn.), but Mount Vernon Nazarene countered with a goal of its own. The teams exchanged goals again, but this time Putzier was the one to find the net to keep a 3-3 tie. Less than a minute later, MNU broke the tie with another goal to take a 4-3 advantage.

Moments later, WPU was able to tie and take the lead behind goals from Boston Romero (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) and Tim Pennington (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) to go up 5-4 heading into halftime.

The navy and gold came out of halftime on fire, scoring eight goals in the period. Jeff Kohl (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz., Business Management) got things started, while Putzier would put away the next two goals for the Statesmen. Christensen then got in on the action with help from Putzier, followed by an unassisted goal from Collin Baliva (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Mechanical Engineering).

Seconds later, Kohl scored his second goal of the quarter with an assist from Putzier.  The Cougars were finally able to put a stop to their scoring drought with back-to-back goals. Fortunately, the Statesmen got the two goals back as Putzier and Eli Dillon (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) extended the lead to 13-6.

WPU opened the final quarter with five consecutive goals. Putzier put two away (both assisted by Kohl), while Kohl then scored with an assist from Pennington. Romero tallied two goals of his own, one unassisted and the other off a pass from Kohl, before MVNU scored four straight goals.  It was not enough, however, as the Statesmen held on to win.

Putzier led the way for William Penn with six goals along with three helpers. Kohl was next as he finished with three goals and three assists, while Romero also finished with three goals. Christensen finished with two goals as well.

Ryan Swarts (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) finished 15-for-26 in the faceoff circle, while Eric Garigan (Jr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science) tallied 11 saves in the victory.

"Over the last few games, the team has taken some great strides," Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. "We've faced a lot of adversity in games recently and they've done a great job of answering the bell.  Today was a key conference win that we can use as we continue to build."

Next Up: William Penn will return to Oskaloosa next Saturday to face off against St. Ambrose in Heart play at 2 p.m.