Statesmen Dominate on the Road
Waverly–The William Penn women’s lacrosse team continued its strong start last Sunday as it dropped Wartburg 13-4 in non-conference action.
William Penn (2-0) did most of its damage in the second quarter, outscoring the Knights (0-1) 6-0 in the period.
MacKenzie Petersen (Sr., Albertville, Minn., Public Accounting) got things started, scoring off an assist from Kenzington Winget (So., West Jordan, Utah, Sports Management) with 7:09 left in the first quarter. The Knights tied things up just a few minutes later, until Peterson found the net again, this time unassisted. Wartburg knotted the score one final time with just 27 seconds remaining in the stanza to make it 2-2.
Bailee Royal (Sr., Hallsville, Texas, Sports Management) then opened up the big second quarter with back-to-back goals in the first three minutes. Peterson once again made her mark, scoring from a free position shot, quickly making it 5-2 in favor of the Statesmen. Later in the quarter, Royal managed her own free position goal. Peterson and Royal scored once more before the end of the quarter to put WPU up 8-2 at intermission.
Wartburg trimmed the deficit to five to start the third quarter, but William Penn answered with a goal from Ashlyn Hoffman (Jr., Bend, Ore, Nursing) (unassisted). Neither team could muster any offense over the next 11-plus minutes until Emily Ferguson (Jr., Waterloo, N.Y., Exercise Science) got her first tally of the day with 58 seconds left in the period on a free position attempt to extend the Statesmen advantage to 10-3.
Ferguson beat the Knight goalie once more at the start of the fourth, while Paola Cruz (Sr., Ocala, Fla, Biology) closed out the game with a pair of goals. The first was assisted by Petersen, while Hoffman helped on the second.
Madison Reed (Sr., Shakopee, Minn., Secondary Education) was again a force in net as she recorded five saves on nine shots faced.
Peterson and Royal led the way with four goals each, while Cruz and Ferguson each had two goals in the victory. Hoffman picked up seven ground balls, with Peterson being right behind her with five, while Winget had four.
“Our players grew so much in their skills and IQ between our first and second games and it was shown on the field against Wartburg,” Interim Head Coach Josh Bell said.
Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa Sunday for its home opener, hosting Health Sciences and Pharmacy at 2 p.m. at Statesmen Community Stadium.
