Statesmen Dominate Middle Portion of Game in 22-6 Victory Over Braves

Oskaloosa--The William Penn men's lacrosse team enjoyed its first time on its home turf, defeating Ottawa (Kan.) 22-6 in non-conference action Saturday.

#6 WPU (6-1) outshot the Braves 52-33 (35-20 shots on goal) and committed just 12 turnovers (16 for OU) in its home-opening victory.

Ottawa (2-1) opened the afternoon's scoring just 1:49 into the matchup, but the navy and gold responded with back-to-back goals and never trailed again.  Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) tallied WPU's first goal (unassisted) just under two minutes later, while Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) put away a pass from Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) 37 seconds after that.

The visitors knotted the score at 2-2, while Jeff Kohl (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Business Management) put William Penn up for good when he beat the OU goalkeeper with the assist credited to Nate Blasingame (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management).

That go-ahead goal was followed by Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) setting up Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) for his first goal.  The Braves then answered in the waning seconds of the opening stanza to cut the Statesmen advantage to 4-3.

Putzier (from Romero) opened up a stretch of play for the ages as the navy and gold managed to outscored Ottawa 9-1 in the second quarter.  Romero and Pennington (both unassisted) pushed the edge to 7-3, while OU managed its lone goal of the period at the 11:44 mark.

The Statesmen then the blew the game wide open with six unanswered scores, beginning with an unlikely pair getting on the board as longstick midfielder Max Standage (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Public Accounting) scored off a pass from defender Noah Braegger (Fr., West Point, Utah, Public Accounting).

Romero scored twice during the run, while Putzier, Blasingame, and Taylor also hit the netting as WPU entered the locker room up 13-4.

Although Ottawa tallied the opening goal, the Statesmen also dominated the third quarter as they scored the next eight goals.  Putzier accomplished the scoring feat twice, while Taylor, Kohl, Standage, Eli Dillon (Sr., Portland, Ore., Business Management), and Collin Baliva (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Mechanical Engineering) also fired one home.

With the hosts up 21-5, the fourth stanza was merely a formality with Blasingame recording the lone navy and gold score.

Putzier headlined the offense with eight points on four goals and four assists, while Romero and Kohl had a hand in six goals (both had three goals and three assists).  Taylor, with three goals and two assists, led the rest of the William Penn producers, while Blasingame (two goals, one assist) and Pennington (two goals) factored into multiple goals as well.

The hosts overcame winning only half of the faceoffs (16-for-32) with Blasingame topping the victors at 9-for-18.

WPU was successful in 21 of its 25 clears, while alsolimiting OU to a 16-for-25 effort.  Led by Blasingame with seven and Standage with six, the Statemen posted a 33-27 edge in ground balls.

Eric Garigan (Grad., Tucson, Ariz., Master's of Organizational Leadership) had another effective outing in front of the cage with 14 saves.

"Today was fun," Head Coach Luke Christiansen said.  "I am proud of the way the guys executed the game plan and took advantage of the opportunities that arose.  Now it is time to focus on Indiana Tech."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Atchison, Kan. next Tuesday to face Indiana Tech in a neutral-site matchup at 2 p.m.