Upset Alert! Statesmen Take Down #9 Ottawa

Ottawa, Kan. — Saturday became a historic day for William Penn men’s lacrosse, as the team upended #9 Ottawa on the road. Dominating the first half 9-3, the team put together a solid game from start to finish, holding on for a 11-7 victory. The team improves to 4-6 overall and 2-3 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play.

It took just one possession for the Statesmen to strike, as the team saw Eli Dillon (Fr., Portland, Ore.) gain control of the ball. Driving to the net, he sniped the first goal of the game just 1:10 into the contest. Despite the hot start, the Braves the showed why they are a top-10 team in the NAIA, scoring twice in the span of 1:09. Tying the game with 8:55 in the first quarter, Jeremy Smith (Sr., Camano Island, Wash., Sociology) got beat again on a hard shot, putting Ottawa up 2-1.

With a little over five minutes to go, the Statesmen scampered into the attacking end. Collecting the ball in his crosse, Cole Huettl (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) created a gap and made a perfect pass to Dillon. Closing the distance to goal, Dillon notched his second tally of the game to even the score.

But WPU was not done in the quarter. Tim Pennington (Fr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) picked up a ball and zapped in a score to make it 3-2 with 3:25 to go in the frame. After another hold in the defensive end, the navy and gold found a goal from Collin Baliva (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.), who launched in a perfect shot past the Ottawa goalie. Taking the 4-2 lead into the second quarter, William Penn had also narrowly outshot the Braves 13-11 in the period.

The Statesmen almost blanked the Braves in the second, with Smith and the defense looking great. Boston Romero (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business) collected a pass from Ryan Stuckey (Fr., Sherwood, Ore.) and finished it off to increase the advantage to 5-2. With 9:39 to go, Baliva found pay dirt again, as he then doubled-down by scoring once more with 6:38 to go in the half.

Another screamer found the twine off the stick of Pennington, as WPU led 8-2 with 4:51 remaining in the half. The Braves finally broke through but Dillon punched in another goal, as William Penn took a 9-3 lead into halftime.

WPU outshot Ottawa 23-20 in the first half and were fantastic in forcing the Braves into bad shots, as Smith needed to make only four saves in the first 30 minutes. The Statesmen also made 16 successful clears and picked up 21 ground balls.

The third quarter featured a lot of defense, as no one found a goal in almost seven minutes of action. Pennington then snatched a ball and scored to break the deadlock, as the navy and gold increased their lead to 10-3. Holding on against a top-10 team is never easy though, as the Braves bounced back for two more scores to end the quarter, as William Penn led 10-5.

Dillon had one more goal in him, as he blasted in his fourth of the game to put WPU ahead 11-5. Lots of credit then goes to the defensive rotation, as Ottawa tried desperately to avoid their third loss in a row. The unit forced the Braves into some mistakes, avoided penalties, and clamped down on the game until there was 2:30 left. Ottawa then got into the attacking end and scored a few seconds later, making it 11-6 with 2:18 to go. While the Braves scored again with 19 seconds remaining, they had run out of race track, and the Statesmen had upset Ottawa on their home turf.

The team was outshot 38-37 but had six less turnovers (26-20) than the Braves. The team had 28 successful clearances, picked up 39 ground balls, but also lost the faceoff battle 15-6. Dillon was the man of the hour, with 11 shots, 10 on target, and four goals. Romero had one goal on five shots, three on target, while Pennington completed the hat trick with five shots, all on goal. Baliva was right there too, with three goals on six shots, four being on target. Carter Lucas (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn., Mechanical Engineering) also looked good despite netting zero goals, with four shots on goal on five total shots. Smith made 10 saves while facing 17 shots on target.

“A great milestone win for the program,” said Head Coach Luke Christiansen. “The guys have continued to work hard all season and today, we put together some of the pieces.”

Next Up: Returning to Statesmen Community Stadium, WPU will face Missouri Valley on Thursday, April 1, at 5 p.m.