Statesmen Fall Short of Upset of #1 Reinhardt
Williamsburg, Ky.–The William Penn men’s lacrosse team was unable to collect a massive upset, falling 18-8 to #1 Reinhardt in non-conference action Sunday.
In a game in which it was outshot 52-31 (31-21 in shots on goal), WPU (2-2) unfortunately could not get anything going through the first 30 minutes as it fell behind 15-0 by intermission.
The Statesmen finally started rolling after the break with Kenny Bohney (Fr., Moorhed, Minn.) scoring an unassisted goal just 1:05 into the third.
Less than a minute later, Nate Blasingame (So., Portland, Ore., Business Management) netted a goal that was assisted by Brady Treloar (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management). The scoring kept coming for WPU as Breck Putzier (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Kinesiology) and Boston Romero (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) both found the back of the net less than 10 seconds apart to make it 15-4 with 10 minutes still left in the quarter. The contest turned into a defensive battle over the next eight minutes with neither side recording a goal. Blasingame eventually closed out the third stanza with another score; Putzier assisted on the tally.
As impressive as the five goals were, much more striking was the fact that the navy and gold kept the five-time defending national champion Eagles (3-0) off the scoreboard in the third quarter.
Reinhardt unfortunately made sure the Statesmen got no closer, posting back-to-back goals to take an 17-5 lead early in the fourth.
William Penn fought to the end with Blasingame scoring his third and final goal with help from Tim Pennington (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Biology). With time running down, Romero and Putzier both hit the netting one more time to wrap up the Statesmen scoring.
WPU lost the faceoff battle 21-8 with Joshua Bell (Grad., Castle Rock, Colo., Master of Organizational Leadership) claiming four wins. Eric Garigan (Jr., Tucson, Ariz., Political Science) tallied 13 saves in the loss.
Both teams committed 28 turnovers, while the Statesmen tallied eight fewer ground balls (44-36).
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Leavenworth, Kan. next Saturday to take on Saint Mary in non-conference play at 2 p.m.
