Balanced Attack Leads Statesmen to 20-5 Walloping of Tennessee Wesleyan
Knoxville, Tenn.–The William Penn men’s lacrosse team passed its first test of the season with flying colors, crushing Tennessee Wesleyan 20-5 in non-conference play Friday.
Only a few spots separate #8 WPU (2-0) from the Bulldogs (0-2), who are unofficially 16th in the NAIA, but Friday’s bout ended up being a one-sided affair. The Statesmen outshot their hosts 64-28 and forced 33 turnovers (22 for WPU).
The first quarter was tight with the visitors, despite outshooting TWU 15-8, leading just 2-1. Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) scored the game’s first goal unassisted at the 4:29 mark.
Just over three minutes later, Jeff Kohl (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Business Management) doubled the edge with an assist from Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management).
Although attempting only one more shot than the opening quarter, WPU blew the game wide open in the second, outscoring the home team 8-0. The best part was that each goal was scored by a different player. The only individual to have multiple points was Romero who helped twice; the other six scores were unassisted.
William Penn continued to roll in the third stanza with four more unanswered tallies, led by Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) with a goal and an assist.
Following two more goals in the fourth, the stretch of consecutive goals was finally stopped at 14, pushing the navy and gold lead to 16-1. The rest of the contest was a mere formality.
Romero, with one goal and three assists, and Putzier, with two goals and two assists, guided the victors Friday. Kohl, Eli Dillon (Sr., Portland, Ore., Business Management), and Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) all posted two goals and one assist as well.
The trio of Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology), Seth Read (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Psychology), and Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) also found the netting twice.
Ryan Swarts (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) got the Statesmen off on the right foot many times, winning 15 of his 24 faceoff attempts. The senior also collected seven ground balls, while his squad won that category 35-23.
The times when the Bulldogs had possession, William Penn made it extremely difficult for them as they were just 13-for-24 in clears (WPU was 14-for-18).
“We had great effort from start to finish, but have a lot of room for growth,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “It is exciting that we can have a solid win like this, but still have so much room to improve.”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Knoxville, Tenn. Saturday to face #1 Keiser in non-conference play at 1:15 p.m.
