Benedictine Uses Strong Fourth Quarter to Upend WPU

Atchison, Kan. — William Penn men’s lacrosse made its first trip to Benedictine Wednesday, looking to upset one of the top teams in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Ravens grabbed an early lead, but the Statesmen got hot in the second quarter and tied the game. Keeping things close in the third, WPU unfortunately could not handle BC in the fourth as the Ravens pulled away to take a 17-9 victory. The Statesmen are now 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the KCAC.

While the Statesmen kept the Ravens off the board on their first offensive possession, a penalty put BC a man up, and the Ravens scored to the left side of Jeremy Smith (Sr., Camano Island, Wash., Sociology) to open the scoring. Forced to defend again after losing the faceoff, the Statesmen conceded another goal and trailed 2-0 within the first five minutes of the game.

Smith made a huge save at the 9:05 mark from close range, but BC reset to the point and its attacker scored to put the hosts ahead 3-0.

Finally getting a look at the Raven goal, Collin Baliva (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.) rang one off the post on the first shot for the navy and gold. With the ball still in the offensive end, WPU took its first timeout of the game to draw up a bounce-back goal. After returning to the attacking end a minute later, Boston Romero (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business) spun past a defender, split two others trying to cut him off, and fired the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-1 Benedictine.

With another point-blank save coming from Smith, WPU transitioned to the attack. Baliva tried to skip one home from distance, but the BC goalie made the stop. Quickly going the other way, the Ravens scored to go up 4-1 with 4:27 to go in the first. Benedictine would finish the quarter up 5-1 as it outshot the Statesmen 18-7, though Smith made six stops for WPU in the period.

The score remained stationary for the first five minutes of the second quarter, but it would be the Statesmen striking for the first goal. After a save from Smith, the team passed it quickly into the attacking half and into the hands of Brady Treloar (Fr., Portland, Ore., Business Management). He drove towards the far side of the net, but offloaded to Romero at the other post. Romero sniped it in to make it 5-2. After a faceoff win from Ryan Swarts (Fr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology), Treloar made another brilliant pass, this time to Eli Dillon (Fr., Portland, Ore.) at the top of the formation. He zipped one in to shave one more point off the lead, taking the gap to 5-3.

Romero then picked up the hat trick goal, as he danced past a defender on the far side of the field and fired a laser into the net to make it 5-4 BC. A couple minutes later, Smith made a terrific save on a shot from just in front of his crease. Not wasting time, WPU made a quick outlet and Treloar snuck in the tying goal, with the assist coming from Max Standage (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz., Business Management).

Smith battled off another shot with two minutes to go in the half, but the Ravens got the rebound and, after a few passes, put a goal in to take the lead once more. Scoring in the blink of an eye after the faceoff, the Ravens took a 7-5 lead, a lead they would take into halftime. The Ravens had outshot William Penn 29-15 in the half, but Smith provided 11 saves to keep his team in the hunt for the win after 30 minutes.

Out of the break, William Penn got another transition goal, as Treloar pushed a ball on the ground to Baliva. He bounded in towards the crease unchecked, scoring his first goal of the game. Eric Garigan (Fr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science) collected his first save on the next attack from the Ravens, as he got the nod to start the second half. Dillon once again brought WPU within one, as he made a quick jab step to open a lane to the crease. Finishing the sharp-angle shot into the back of the net, William Penn trailed 8-7 with 6:41 to go in the third.

However, Benedictine answered the Baliva goal to take a 9-7 lead, adding to its advantage almost four minutes later, going up 10-7 with 3:15 to go in the third.

WPU needed a goal and the Ravens helped them out to that end. Tim Pennington (Fr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) created a turnover and he made a pass from behind the net to an open Treloar who scored, as the Ravens’ goalie was caught outside of the crease. With no more goals in the quarter, the Statesmen entered the fourth down 10-8, needing a fantastic 15 minutes to pull off the upset.

Unfortunately, the Ravens hit a higher gear and pumped in five goals over the first 10 minutes of the final frame. The navy and gold got their final tally from Baliva, who juked out one defender and lined one in to the near post with 14 seconds to go. The final whistle blew shortly thereafter and Benedictine had plenty of cushion on the scoreboard, winning 17-9.

The Ravens outshot WPU 61-26 and owned the faceoff line 19-9. WPU was 10-18 on successful clearances and picked up 24 ground balls. Smith made 11 saves in the first half and Garigan made seven in the second half. The team was led by Romero with three goals, while Treloar, Baliva, and Dillon each had two. Romero had seven shots and Baliva had six to top the team. Swarts won five draws for the squad, while Joshua Bell (Fr., Castle Rock, Colo.) won three of the six that he took.

“We played a great three quarters that showcased our talented roster,” said Head Coach Luke Christiansen. “Ultimately, our youth manifested itself in a plethora of mental mistakes during the fourth quarter and a veteran squad made us pay for it. We are very proud of the way our team competed and we have a lot to take away from this game.”

Next Up: The Statesmen will return to Kansas and play #10 Ottawa on Saturday at 3 p.m.