No. 5 Seed William Penn to Meet No. 4 Reinhardt at NAIA Championship
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen men’s lacrosse team, dancing for the third year in a row, will be looking to advance for the first time ever as it competes in the Second Annual NAIA National Championship next week.
The winner of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship, WPU (12-3) enters the NAIA Championship as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) (9-4) in the quarterfinals of the eight-team event on Tuesday, May 12 at 1 p.m. (Central).
The Championship will be held from May 12-16 at Jack Allen Sports Complex in Decatur, Ala.
It will be the third matchup between WPU and RU with the Eagles owning a 2-0 lead in the head-to-head series. The last time they met, Reinhardt won 18-8 in 2023.
Fans can watch all of the Championship games FREE at https://urbanedgenetwork.net/
Tickets can be purchased at https://www.universe.com/events/2026-naia-mens-and-womens-lacrosse-national-championships-tickets-05LGR6?ref=share-widget-buffer
William Penn
Luke Christiansen, in his seventh year as head coach of the Statesmen, owns a 75-31 record entering the Championship.
William Penn, which had four all-Heart award recipients (all on the first team), has outscored its opponents 260-96.
Kenny Bohney (Sr., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science), the Heart Co-Player of the Year, leads the navy and gold with 50 goals and 38 assists.
The Statesmen defense held seven opponents to five goals or fewer this spring, including three shutouts. Connor Russell (Sr., Grand Haven, Mich., Applied Computer Science) has tallied 138 saves and is permitting only 7.57 goals per contest.
William Penn owned a nine-game winning streak earlier this year.
Reinhardt
Trey Whittemore is in his first year as head coach of the Eagles. He guided RU to an appearance in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Final.
Reinhardt, which has outscored its foes 168-110, started the season on a four-game winning streak.
Joe Amatulli, with 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists), Benjamin Shackelford, with 42 points (29 goals, 13 assists), and Luke Greer, with 41 points (35 goals, 6 assists), head the offense. Michael Scoleri is the leader of the defense with 84 saves and just 8.04 goals allowed per game.
