William Penn Falls to Patriots in Quarterfinals of NAIA Invitational

Savannah, Ga.--The Statesmen men's lacrosse team battled, but was unable to advance out of the opening round of the NAIA National Invitational as it fell 16-9 to #4 seed Cumberlands (Ky.) in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

In its first-ever trip to the Invitational, fifth-seeded William Penn (16-3) outshot the Patriots (14-4) by a 52-46 margin, but unfortunately could not figure out the UC goalkeeper.  Of the navy and gold's 52 attempts, 34 were on goal, but 25 of those were stopped.

Cumberlands jumped out to a 3-0 lead before WPU finally got on the board with 4:32 left in the first quarter as Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology) scored unassisted.  The Patriots, however, closed with two more scores to lead 5-1 after the first period of action.

The Statesmen came out strong in the second stanza, beginning with Christensen again finding the back of the net unassisted just 3:12 into the quarter.  Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) and Christensen, with help from Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management), then pulled the Statesmen within two at 6-4.

The squads went back and forth before halftime as Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) (unassisted both times) matched UC's final two goals as William Penn hit the locker room trailing just 9-6.

The Statesmen unfortunately fell short of a comeback as the Patriots pulled away, including posting a 4-1 edge in the third quarter.  Romero recorded his crew's lone third-quarter score to make it 11-7 with 6:08 still on the clock.

Cumberlands then found another gear with five unanswered scores as the deficit ballooned to nine. The game did end on a positive note, though, as Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) closed out the day and the season with two more goals (both unassisted), leaving him with 67 for the year.

Christensen guided WPU with three goals, while Bohney and Putzier had two each.  Romero had a part in two goals as well.

The team's lack of offensive efficacy was countered by a strong showing in the faceoff circle.  The Statesmen won 17 of the 29 faceoffs with Nate Blasingame (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) going 12-for-20 and Ryan Swarts (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) victorious in five of nine tries.  Blasingame topped WPU with 11 ground balls as well.

Eric Garigan (Grad., Tucson, Ariz., Master's of Organizational Leadership) tried to keep William Penn in the game with seven saves, but 19 navy and gold turnovers (17 for UC) were too much to overcome.  The trio of Noah Braegger (Fr., West Point, Utah, General Accounting), Bradley Howell (So., Clearfield, Utah, Psychology), and Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) all managed two caused turnovers in the loss.

Both teams were successful in clearances with WPU going 18-for-21 and Cumberlands finishing 26-for-28.

"In many ways, this was the breakout season we had been working towards since the program was founded," Head Coach Luke Christiansen said.  "We are really proud of all the strides the guys made.  This is the standard moving forward."