Men’s Lacrosse End Road Trip with a Win Over Cougars
Grand Park, Ind.–A day after being stymied offensively, the Statesmen men’s lacrosse team flipped the script by defeating Mount Vernon Nazarene 14-6 in non-conference action Wednesday. WPU (2-3) scored a season high in goals as six different players got on the board, led by five tallies from Boston Romero (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business).
Up 5-3 after one quarter of play, the Statesmen extended the advantage to three at halftime at 7-4. The second half belonged to the navy and gold as they scored seven more times, while the Cougars (1-1) were limited to just two more tallies.
Outside of Romero, Brady Treloar (Fr., Portland, Ore., Business Management), Cole Huettl (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management), Carter Lucas (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Mechanical Engineering), and Eli Dillon (Fr., Portland, Ore.) each potted two goals. Joshua Bell (Fr., Castle Rock, Colo.) collected one goal in the game.
Behind 16 shots from Romero (10 on goal), WPU outshot MNVU 48-34, with 27 of their shots being on target. Lucas was second on the squad with seven shots. Defensively, Eric Garigan (Fr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science) recorded 10 saves between the pipes, while Ryan Swarts (Fr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) had an outstanding day in the face-off circle, winning 19 of his 22 attempts.
William Penn also won the ground ball battle, 59-14 with Max Standage (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz., Business Management) picking up nine on the day. Swarts snagged eight ground balls while Caeden Miller (Fr., Bear River, Utah, Digital Communication) picked up six.
“A great team win that builds some momentum going into conference play,” said Head Coach Luke Christiansen. “I really liked the way we closed out this game with a great third quarter run. This was a team and game very similar to Montreat, but we showed some great growth to close out the game with a dominating run.”
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa for a Wednesday tilt against #9 St. Ambrose. The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference opener will start at 4 p.m.
