Statesmen Cruise to Season-Opening Win
West Des Moines–The William Penn men’s lacrosse team made a statement in its season opener, defeating Cornell 19-4 in non-conference play Saturday.
WPU (1-0), which served as the host at the neutral site of the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, won its season opener for the first time in program history, doing so in convincing fashion by outshooting the Rams 60-19.
The navy and gold did most of their damage in the opening 15 minutes, beginning with Collin Baliva (So., St. Louis, Mo.) scoring unassisted just 2:58 into the afternoon.
Six different players scored in the quarter as the Statesmen blew out to a 7-0 advantage. Eli Dillon (So., Portland, Ore.) paced the crew with two goals during the period, while Nate Blasingame (Fr., Portland, Ore.) assisted on two of the scores. Equally impressive for the victors was the fact that they allowed only one Cornell shot in the first stanza (24 for WPU).
Blasingame continued to be a big part of William Penn’s offense with two more helpers and a goal as WPU pulled out to a commanding 11-0 advantage by intermission.
The lead grew to 14-0 as Breck Putzier (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn.) tallied the squad’s first two goals of the second half, while Romero (score) and Baliva (assist) hooked up as well. The Rams then finally got on the board with a pair of goals.
Boston Romero (So., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) took over for a spell with three consecutive goals to make it a 17-2 edge early in the final quarter. The Statesmen and the Rams exchanged a pair of goals as time wound down.
Romero guided WPU with a career-high six goals, while the duo of Putzier and Dillon both added three scores. Putzier assisted once as well. Marcus Glass (Fr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) also tallied multiple goals with two.
Blasingame matched Romero in points with six, but those came in opposite fashion with five assists and one goal.
Baliva had his had in three tallies with a pair of helpers and one score, while Tim Pennington (So., Boise, Idaho, Biology) contributed both a goal and an assist.
Brady Treloar (So., Portland, Ore., Business Management) and Seth Read (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) wrapped up WPU’s scoring with one goal apiece.
Ryan Swarts (So., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) gave his team chance after chance as he dominated the face-off circle by winning 14 of his 17 chances. Jake Rodriquez (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz., Biology) was also strong with five victories in nine opportunities. Overall, the navy and gold won 19 of the 27 total faceoffs.
William Penn dominated in all other areas as well, including a 36-16 edge in groundballs. The winning crew also committed just eight turnovers, compared to 10 for the Rams.
With the dominance came a light workload for the trio of Statesmen goalkeepers as Andreas Bramscher (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn.) led the squad with three saves.
“First and foremost, we accomplished our goal of winning our first season opener in program history,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “It was exactly the type of game you want to open the season, a convincing win in a great atmosphere. We did not play anywhere near our potential, but now we have a foundation to learn from moving forward.”
Next Up: WPU travels to Howell, Mich. next Friday to face Cleary in non-conference action at 1 p.m. (CST).
