William Penn Destroys Records in Thrashing of MVNU
Oskaloosa–Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) was once again an elite offensive player and his squad scored the most goals ever as the Statesmen men’s lacrosse throttled Mount Vernon Nazarene 33-4 in its Heart of America Athletic Conference opener Thursday.
#4 WPU (10-1, 1-0 Heart), which outshot the Cougars 83-14, put the league on high alert by breaking the program record that previously stood at 30 (Saint Mary-Kan., 2023).
The hosts scored the first goal of the contest just 1:08 into the afternoon as Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) beat the Cougar goalkeeper unassisted. Just seven seconds later, Max Standage (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Public Accounting) buried a pass from Collin Baliva (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Mechanical Engineering) to double the edge.
The Cougars (6-4, 1-3 Heart) got on the board a minute later, but the navy and gold responded with five straight. Putzier scored three times and assisted once during that span, while MVNU wrapped up the first period with a goal to make it 7-2 after 15 minutes on the turf.
The sides each had one goal through the first three minutes of the second stanza before William Penn ran away with it. The hosts posted seven in a row to finish the half with a 15-3 advantage. Putzier again put three balls away and helped on another one.
For the game, the junior finished with a school-record 15 points, including tying the program mark for goals with 10. His teammate Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology) also had 10 a year ago. Putzier also assisted on five tallies as his 15 points snaps his own single-game mark of 13 points (Benedictine, 2023).
With the contest well in hand, the Statesmen somehow found another gear, shutting out Mount Vernon Nazarene in the third to the tune of a 10-0 scoring edge. Putzier recorded four more goals, while Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) was good for an additional three. Christensen had three assists as part of a double-digit performance of 10 points (three goals, seven assists).
Seth Read (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Psychology), who ended the game with three goals, managed two in Wednesday’s final period as the navy and gold scored on seven more occasions before MVNU finally snapped an incredible streak of 24 unanswered by WPU.
Romero and Taylor both wrapped up the win with five goals and one assist, while Standage scored twice. Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) factored into three Statesmen scores as well with one goal and two assists.
Eric Garigan (Grad., Tucson, Ariz., Master’s of Organizational Leadership) was fairly untested Wednesday, but still tallied four saves.
Paced by 13 wins from Ryan Swarts (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) and eight from Nate Blasingame (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management), the victors were 26-for-28 in faceoffs. William Penn also had little trouble moving the ball, going 23-for-25 in clears (MVNU was 18-for-25) and committing just 14 turnovers (29 for MVNU).
The Statesmen posted a 48-25 advantage in ground balls as well. Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) notched a team-best seven and Blasingame added six.
“This was a great way to start conference play,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “The emphasis moving forward is playing with that hunger in every game.”
Next Up: William Penn remains in Oskaloosa next Tuesday, hosting Columbia in non-conference action at 5 p.m.
