Statesmen Pull Off Hard Fought Win at Home Over St. Ambrose

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's lacrosse team was able to pull off a nail-biter as it defeated St. Ambrose 9-7 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.

WPU (9-4, 2-0 Heart) outshot SAU (4-6, 0-2 Heart) 45-33, while also winning the face-off (11-8) and ground balls (16-10) battles.

Just 11 seconds into the contest the Statesmen got on the board behind an unassisted goal from Boston Romero (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management). The lead for the navy and gold did not last long as the visitors tallied three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead through one period of play.

William Penn opened the second quarter with a goal from Romero with help from Jeff Kohl (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz., Business Management), but the Fighting bees countered with a goal of its own. Moments later, Breck Putizer (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Kinesiology) scored an unassisted goal, followed by a goal from Kohl assisted by Peter Hebenstreit (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Nursing) to tie the game 4-4 going into halftime.

After intermission, the Statesmen got on the board first again, this time it was Wyatt Christensen (Fr., Madison, Wis., Biology). Once again, St. Ambrose returned the favor with a goal of its own. The tie did not last long as back-to-back goals from Putizer and Kohl gave the navy and gold 7-5 lead. SAU would close out the third quarter scoring with a goal making the score 7-6.

St. Ambrose opened the final quarter with a goal that tied the contest 7-7. Fortunately, William Penn as able to respond as Putizer put away two goals back-to-back one assisted by Kohl to take a 9-7 lead with time running down. The visitors had plenty of chances to cut into the lead, but the Statesmen defense held them scoreless the rest of the way to escape with the win.

Putizer led the way for William Penn with four goals along with one assist. Kohl was next as he finished with two goals and two assists, while Romero also finished with two goals. Christensen rounded out the scoring with one goal as well.

Ryan Swarts (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) finished 9-for-17 in the faceoff circle, while Eric Garigan (Jr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science) tallied nine saves in the victory.

"The defense stepped up and delivered in a big way" Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. "We started a little slow and the offense never really got going, but today was an important win in our programs development to be able to go out and win a slug fest type of game."

Next up: William Penn will travel down Columbia, Mo. next Thursday to take on Colombia College in Heart action at 7 p.m.