Statesmen Thump Missouri Valley in Non-Conference Season Opener
West Des Moines–The William Penn men’s lacrosse team made a statement in its season opener, defeating Missouri Valley 19-8 in non-conference play Sunday.
WPU (1-0), which served as the host at the neutral site of the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, won its season opener in a convincing fashion by outshooting the Vikings 73-20.
Wyatt Christensen (Fr., Madison, Wis., Biology) opened the scoring for the navy and gold just 1:35 into the evening, while Tim Pennington (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) followed him with back-to-back unassisted goals as the Statesmen led 4-1 after the first period.
WPU did most of its damage in the middle quarters as Christensen got the offense going with another goal, before Breck Putzier (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Kinesiology) took over with two consecutive scores, including one assisted by Brady Treloar (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management).
Christensen was on fire in the first half as he connected on two more goals at the end of the second, giving him four as WPU went into intermission up 10-4.
Putzier continued to be a big part of William Penn’s offense as the lead grew to 13-4 courtesy of three unassisted goals by the sophomore. Five other Statesmen also found the back of the neck in the lopsided third quarter as WPU put it away with an 18-5 advantage.
The Vikings tallied three goals in the final stanza of play, but they much to far behind to make it a contest. Ashton Johnson (Jr., Oregon City, Ore., General Accounting), with help from Eli Dillon (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management), closed out the William Penn scoring.
Putzier guided WPU with six goals, while Christensen, who had an assist as well, added four scores of his own. Pennington and Dillon also produced multiple-goal performances with two each.
Treloar finished the evening with three helpers and one score, while four other Statesmen also entered the scoring column with one goal.
Ryan Swarts (Jr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) gave his team chance after chance as he dominated the face-off circle by winning 15 of his 16 chances. Nick Hajnasiewicz (So., Minneapolis, Minn., Kinesiology) and Joshua Bell (Grad., Castle Rock, Colo., Masters of Organizational Leadership) both were strong with seven victories apiece. Overall, the navy and gold won 29 of the 31 total faceoffs.
William Penn dominated in all other areas as well, including a 33-15 edge in groundballs. The winning crew also committed just 14 turnovers, compared to 19 for the Vikings.
Dillon Woods (Fr., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Industrial Technology) guided the goalkeeping squad with four saves off the bench.
“A win is a win is a win,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “This is the earliest we have played a season opener and it showed. Today was vital to knocking off the rust and building chemistry. We have a very deliberate plan in place to ensure we play our best lacrosse at the end of the season, and we are going to take our lessons from today and double down on that vision.”
Next Up: WPU travels back down to West Des Moines next Saturday to face Cornell College in non-conference action at 6 p.m.
