Statesmen Eliminate Fighting Bees, Set Up Rematch Against Benedictine
Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s lacrosse team rebounded from a disappointing showing in its last game by crushing #3 seed St. Ambrose 26-5 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Semifinals Wednesday.
#2 seed WPU (15-2) will now travel to Atchison, Kan. Saturday to face #1 seed Benedictine in Saturday’s championship game at 11 a.m. It will be a rematch of last Saturday’s regular season finale that witnessed the navy and gold drop an 8-7 decision to the Ravens.
The hosts took a bit to get going against the Fighting Bees (9-7) as well, but once they found their groove, they were unstoppable.
William Penn, which doubled SAU in shots at 66-33, tallied two quick goals in the opening four minutes of action with Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology) and Blake Cyboron (So., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Civil Engineering) both burying unassisted shots in the netting.
Unfortunately, St. Ambrose responded with two unanswered goals of its own to knot the contest at 2-2 midway through the opening period.
Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science), who was denied any goals against Benedictine last weekend, finally got to taste scoring again at the 5:37 mark. He then doubled up with only 70 seconds remaining in the stanza to put the navy and gold ahead 4-2 after 15 minutes of action.
Putzier’s goals opened the floodgates for WPU as it went on to dominate the second and third quarters with 18 goals in a row, including an 8-0 edge in the second. The duo of Putzier and Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) both scored twice as the home squad pulled out to a 12-2 edge at intermission.
Nate Blasingame (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) then took over after the break. Having already assisted twice in the second, the junior enjoyed being the scorer in the third with three goals in addition to one helper. Christensen and Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) tacked on a pair of winners as well.
The formality of the final 15 minutes included Christensen, Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology), and Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) all beating the SAU goalkeeper to cap WPU’s scoring.
Just four days after finding success on only 17.9% of their shots versus BC, the Statesmen had one of their most efficient nights of 2024 with a 39.4% goal rate.
Ten different players recorded a goal, while 12 individuals factored into at least one score. Christensen finished with a team-best five goals (one assist), while Putzier’s squad-high seven points came via four goals and three assists.
Blasingame was next with six points on three goals and three helpers, while Bohney ended up with three goals and two assists. Pennington (three goals), Taylor (two goals, one assist), Romero (two goals, one assist), Cyboron (two goals), and Marcus Davis (Jr., Sacramento, Calif., New Media) (two assists) also posted multiple points Wednesday.
The lopsided victory included the hosts winning 27 of 34 faceoffs, including Blasingame finishing 14-for-15. William Penn cleared the ball from its defensive end 22 of 24 times (SAU was just 18-for-29), while the Statesmen also committed only 19 turnovers, compared to 23 for the Fighting Bees.
Finally, a 43-25 advantage in ground balls was posted, led by 10 from Blasingame. He had two caused turnovers as well.
Eric Garigan (Grad., Tucson, Ariz., Master’s of Organizational Leadership) tallied seven saves in the victory.
“We are one step closer,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “Now, we need to finish this weekend.”
