William Penn Crushes Spires in Season Opener

West Des Moines--The Statesmen men's lacrosse team scored early and often in its 2024 opener as it rolled past Saint Mary (Kan.) 29-2 in non-conference action Wednesday.

WPU (1-0), which outshot the Spires 61-6, led 15-0 after the first quarter and 23-0 at halftime before finally allowing USM (0-1) to get on the board in the third quarter.

Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology) scored just 26 seconds into the bout with an assist from Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science).  Christiansen added another goal a minute later and one more in the sixth minute of competition.  He finished with a team-high four goals.

Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) also found the back of the cage on four occasions, doing so all four times in the first period.  Putzier, Seth Read (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Psychology), and Jeff Kohl (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Business Management), with two scores apiece, also produced during the opening 15 minutes of action.

Read, who matched Christiansen and Taylor with four goals, paced the navy and gold during the second stanza which saw WPU slow down a bit, but still dominate the Spires.  At the halfway point in the game, William Penn owned a 40-2 advantage in shot attempts.

Max Barr (Fr., West Des Moines, Iowa, Business Management) tacked on a pair of second-half goals as the Statesmen got their reserves some playing time.

In addition to the trio that scored four goals, Putzier tallied three scores, but more impressively assisted eight times for 11 total points.

Four individuals recorded two goals, including Barr, Kohl, Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science), and Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management), while Eli Dillon (Sr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) helped out on three tallies.

Collin Baliva (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Mechanical Engineering) made his presence most felt by being in the right place as he picked up 10 ground balls; overall, WPU led 35-9 in that category.

Of the 35 faceoffs, the Statesmen won 27 of them, including Ryan Swarts (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) going 12-for-16 and Kameron Brown (Fr., Wodinville, Wash., Business Management) finishing 9-for-13.

The Statesmen failed on only one of their 19 clears, while their defense was incredibly tough, allowing Saint Mary (Kan.) to get the ball across just 10 of its 23 tries.  William Penn also won the turnover battle 22-15.

"Some might look at the score and see that it was pretty much the same as last year, but Saint Mary is definitely improved and so are we," Head Coach Luke Christiansen said.  "I am proud of the guys for executing the game plan and being extremely efficient."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Knoxville, Tenn. next Friday to face Tennessee Wesleyan at 4:30 p.m.