WPU Starts Season on High Note

West Des Moines--The William Penn women's lacrosse team got its season started off the right way with a 15-10 win over Cornell Friday.

The Statesmen (1-0) got off to a slow start as Cornell (0-1) took a 3-0 advantage after the first five minutes of the game.

Ashlyn Hoffman (Jr., Bend, Ore, Nursing) then took things into her own hands, scoring the program's first goal of the season. Less than a minute later, MacKenzie Petersen (Sr., Albertville, Minn., Public Accounting) scored another.

Bailee Royal (Sr., Hallsville, Texas, Sports Management) then tied the game as she took the ball the length of field to score unassisted and made it 3-3. Emily Ferguson (Jr., Waterloo, N.Y., Exercise Science) grabbed the lead scoring back-to-back goals with the second one being assisted by Paola Cruz (Sr., Ocala, Fla., Biology) to take a 5-3 lead. Ferguson and Royal later scored once more to make it 7-4 to end the first quarter.

Peterson opened the second period by scoring off an assist by Jenna Donlan (Sr., Tampa, Fla., Business Management), while Ferguson, with an assist from Petersen, scored her fourth goal of the game at the 11:49 mark. Royal scored from a free-position shot attempt and at the break the Statesmen led 11-5.

Cornell tried to make a run back into the game after intermission, but the navy and gold went goal-for-goal with them. Three Statesmen scored in the third quarter as WPU entered the fourth quarter ahead 14-9.

In a low-scoring final period, Ferguson scored William Penn's lone goal, her sixth goal of the game, answering a Ram goal just 20 seconds earlier.  The Statesmen were able to run out of the clock to finish off the season-opening win.

Ferguson led the way for the Statesmen with six goals on nine shots. Royal followed with four goals, while Peterson had three tallies. Hoffman chipped in two goals of her own.

Madison Reed (Sr., Shakopee, Minn., Secondary Education) recorded seven saves against 17 shots faced.

"I am proud of the way our ladies performed," Interim Head Coach Josh Bell said.  "They have shown that they do not ever back down from a fight and that they can dig deep and keep their foot on the gas for all four quarters."