Statesmen Denied by Wildcats

Canton, Mo.--The William Penn women's lacrosse team could not overcome a slow start in a 12-5 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to Culver-Stockton Saturday.

WPU (1-5, 1-1 Heart), which was outshot just 32-20, gave up the first five goals of the contest before finally getting on the scoreboard as Emily Ferguson (Sr., Waterloo, N.Y., Exercise Science) finished off a pass from Kenzington Winget (Sr., West Jordan, Utah., Political Science) with 2:12 left until halftime.

The Wildcats (3-4, 1-1 Heart) closed out the first half with another goal and then tacked on two more in the third stanza before Ferguson did the work herself with back-to-back unassisted scores to pull the visitors within two at 8-3 entering the final 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, William Penn failed to get any closer as Culver-Stockton put two consecutive balls in the netting.

Ferguson, from Winget, along with Winget, on a free position shot, pulled the navy and gold within five once more midway through the fourth period, but the Wildcats put the comeback threat to rest with two final goals.

The Statesmen unfortunately struggled in ball control with 24 turnovers (20 for C-SC), while also only successfully clearing the ball on eight of 16 attempts (C-SC was 12-for-16).

Raylee Halbrooks (Sr., Elgin, Okla., English) topped WPU with six ground balls, while the trio of Ferguson, Winget, and Ashlyn Hoffman (Sr., Bend, Ore., Nursing) all won three draw controls.  Hoffman also recorded a pair of caused turnovers.

Catrina Dinehart (Grad., Palmyra, N.Y., Master's of Sports Management) kept the contest close with 13 saves.

"The ladies had a tough day," Head Coach Joshua Bell said.  "Unfortunately, our defense played the majority of the game.  That being said, our defenders balled out and stood on their heads."

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Wednesday to host Benedictine in Heart play at 5 p.m.