WPU Rolls Over Pride

Oskaloosa--A balanced attack led the Statesmen men's lacrosse team to a comfortable 29-2 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over Clarke Saturday.

William Penn (10-4, 3-0 Heart) poured it on all afternoon with a gaudy 79-7 advantage in shots over the Pride (3-7, 0-3 Heart).  The victors also picked up 56 ground balls, compared to just 14 for CU.

The navy and gold got on the board first behind a goal from Breck Putzier (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) before scoring six more goals in the quarter, including two from Boston Romero (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management). CU scored one goal in the first period as WPU pulled out to a 7-1 lead.

The Statesmen offense was even more productive in the second stanza with 10 goals. Putzier led the way with four goals, while Wyatt Christensen (Fr., Madison, Wis., Biology) added two more en route to an 17-1 halftime edge.

The Statesmen continued to hold down the accelerator with six more goals in the third. Tim Pennington (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) got the scoring going, followed by a goal from Brady Treloar (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management). Clarke responded with a goal of its own, but it failed to even put a dent in WPU's advantage.  The hosts rattled off four straight goals to go up 23-2 entering the final quarter.

William Penn posted six more goals in the fourth to close out the lopsided victory.  At game's end. Putzier led the navy and gold with five goals, but more impressively dished out seven assists as he broke the program record for single-game assists.  The Statesmen also set a new school mark with 24 assists in Saturday's triumph.

Max Taylor (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) finished with four goals and two assists, while Romero and Nate Blasingame (So., Portland, Ore., Business Management) also scored three goals in the contest. Seven other Statesmen showed up in the goal category as well in the victory.

In addition to its domination in the shots category, William Penn also won 28 of the 34 faceoffs, recorded a 56-14 edge in ground balls, and committed only 18 turnovers (28 for CU).  Nick Hajnasiewicz (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Kinesiology) finished 20-for-25 in faceoffs.

"Hitting double-digit wins for the second year in a row is a big milestone," Head Coach Luke Christiansen said.  "The standard is being set that we are not an average program, and we are now one more win closer to our objectives within conference."

Next Up: William Penn will travel to Atchison, Kan. next Saturday to face Benedictine in Heart action at 3 p.m.