WPU Falls to #4 Cumberlands
Williamsburg, Ky.–After a disappointing start, the Statesmen men’s lacrosse team battled valiantly as it fell 23-9 to #4 Cumberlands in a non-conference matchup Sunday.
William Penn (1-2) began a busy spring break week consisting of three road contests by being outshot 54-29, but most of that tally came in the opening quarter.
The navy and gold permitted 11 first-period scores, including eight to begin the afternoon. Carter Lucas (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Mechanical Engineering) finally got the Statesmen on the board with 28 seconds left in the stanza.
UC (4-1) outshot WPU 23-6 after the first 15 minutes, but the navy and gold quickly sorted out their issues and gave the home team all it could handle and more in the second quarter.
The Patriots recorded the first three tallies of the period to push the advantage to 14-1, but the final five were notched by William Penn to make it 14-6 at the break.
Brady Treloar (Fr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) earned the first goal (unassisted) with 4:51 to go, while Ashton Johnson (Fr., Oregon City, Ore., General Accounting) and Lucas also put attempts in the netting within the following minute.
Patrick Brown (Fr., Herriman, Utah, Software Engineering) closed out the half with back-to-back scores with help from Lucas and Johnson, respectively.
Unfortunately, Cumberlands responded by shutting out the Statesmen 6-0 in the third to move their edge to 20-6. Although the final result was no longer in question, WPU fought to the bitter end, knotting UC 3-3 in the last stanza. Brown, Dylan Anzalone (Fr., Omaha, Neb., Mechanical Engineering), and Johnson all recorded scores in the waning minutes to make the score more than respectable.
After the opening period, WPU was outshot just 31-23. The squad, headed by Ryan Swarts (Fr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) at 16-for-32, nearly won half of the face-offs (16-for-34 total).
Brown produced three goals on eight shots (six on goal), while Carter and Johnson each had two goals on five shots in the setback.
Defensively, Eric Garigan (Fr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science) was strong in front of the cage with 17 saves.
William Penn committed 26 turnovers to 17 for UC, while both sides were quite successful in clearing the ball (WPU was 19-for-25, UC was 23-for-24). The Statesmen unfortunately failed to take advantage of Patriot penalties as they were 0-for-4 in extra-man opportunities.
“This is a game that will pay big dividends in the future,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “We got into our own heads to start the game, especially on defense, which will happen with freshmen. Fortunately, we turned things around and got into a good rhythm, particularly on offense.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Mount Vernon, Ohio Tuesday to face Mount Vernon Nazarene in non-conference action at 3 p.m. (CST).
