Dominant Win for Men’s Lacrosse
Oskaloosa — With the women’s team victorious in the early game, William Penn men’s lacrosse took to the field looking to complete the sweep of Clarke on the day. The Pride were outclassed for most of the matchup, as the Statesmen piled on 10 goals in the first half. The navy and gold took the victory 16-2 after the final whistle, improving their record to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play.
The Statesmen were in the attacking zone for the majority of the first half and the pressure led to an early penalty on the Pride. With the extra attacker on, WPU had Noah George (Fr., Hillsboro, Ore.) make an excellent pass to Cole Huettl (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management), who fired a laser into the net to make it 1-0. Just shy of two minutes later, Brady Treloar (Fr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) came from behind the net and fired in a shot off a pass from Boston Romero (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business) to make it 2-0. With 7:27 to go, George took a great pass from Carter Lucas (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Mechanical Engineering) and zipped it past the Clarke goalie to make it 3-0.
The scoring continued as Lucas then scored on an extra man opportunity to put the navy and gold ahead 4-0. The final goal of the quarter came with 3:34 to go, as Max Standage (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz., Business Management) headed towards the bench for a change but reversed course. Sprinting right through the zone defense of Clarke, he caught a pass from Tim Pennington (Fr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) and scored to put WPU ahead 5-0. Eric Garigan (Fr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science), getting the start in net, made three saves in the first 15 minutes of action, including one ball that he scooped up off the goal line.
The second quarter once more saw William Penn press the issue, with Huettl scoring with 9:39 remaining. Romero then mailed in a long-range goal to make it 7-0 just 20 seconds later. George, Romero, and Ryan Epps (Fr., Portland, Ore., Mechanical Engineering) each established good positioning in the high-danger areas and cashed in, as WPU led 10-0 a t halftime.
The Statesmen outshot Clarke 27-12 in the first half, winning eight of 12 draws, and making nine clearances in 13 attempts. Garigan made seven saves in 30 shutout minutes, with a couple high quality stops from a close distance.
The third period started out with Treloar notching his second of the game on a great individual effort. Romero then scored again with 7:09 to go but William Penn started to take a number of penalties. That led to the Pride finally getting an open look, with the shot going in just below the cross bar past Garigan. However, both Lucas and Pennington scored over the final six minutes to put the navy and gold ahead 14-1 after three periods.
The fourth and final quarter saw only three goals in total, as Clarke struck first with 7:31 to go. A minute later, Ilias Cole (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev.) steamed into the offensive zone and arched a ball perfectly to Treloar, who was standing on the near-side of the goal crease. Catching and shooting in one motion, Treloar put WPU ahead 15-2. A similar play a few minutes later saw Lucas pick out Pennington on the long, floating, ball, as Lucas punched home his second tally of the day. Garigan was forced to make only one more save in the final few minutes, as WPU celebrated the 16-2 victory by ringing the victory bell for the first time against a KCAC opponent.
William Penn outshot Clarke 46-22 on the day, as 25 of those shots for WPU were on target. The team picked up 21 ground balls and was 23-30 on successful clearances. The squad was also 11-20 on faceoffs, with Ryan Swarts(Fr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) winning five of the six draws that he took.
Romero and Treloar each scored three times, with George, Huettl, and Lucas scoring twice. Romero led the team with seven shots while Treloar, Pennington, and Dillon each had six. Lucas had three assists in the game and Garigan had 11 saves.
“We had a great week of practice and the results showed today,” said Head Coach Luke Christiansen. “This was a solid team win with lots of learning moments that will help our young team continue to grow.”
Next Up: The Statesmen will face (RV) Benedictine on the road on Wednesday, March 24, at 4 p.m.
