William Penn Runs Out of Gas in Road Setback
Davenport–After a strong first half, the Statesmen women’s lacrosse team was unable to keep up with the pace as it fell 17-6 to St. Ambrose in Heart of America Athletic Conference action Saturday.
WPU (1-7, 1-3 Heart), which was outshot 35-19, also committed 30 turnovers (20 for SAU). The visitors were able to keep it close, though, with a solid effort in the draw control circle, losing that battle just 14-12.
The Statesmen matched the Queen Bees goal-for-goal through the first 11 minutes. Emily Ferguson (Sr., Waterloo, N.Y., Exercise Science), who scored all six of WPU’s goals, beat the SAU goalkeeper at the 13:11, 8:30, and 4:39 marks of the opening period. One of the goals came off a pass from Victoria Negron (Sr., Miami, Florida, Exercise Science).
Tied at 3-3, St. Ambrose (7-1, 3-0 Heart) then closed out the quarter with back-to-back goals, but the navy and gold trimmed the deficit to one at 5-4 with an early goal by Ferguson on a free position shot with 13:25 to go until halftime.
The Queen Bees then answered with three in a row before Ferguson, off a pass from Kenzington Winget (Sr., West Jordan, Utah., Political Science), as they entered the locker room down just 8-5.
The second half was unfortunately one-sided in favor of the home squad, including a 5-1 margin in the third quarter. After five in a row, Ferguson finished off the period with help from Winget for the second time, while St. Ambrose wrapped up the afternoon with four unanswered goals in the fourth.
Ferguson led the visiting crew with five draw controls, while Ashlyn Hoffman (Sr., Bend, Ore., Nursing) managed four.
Annie Gruber (Sr., Eagan, Minn., Psychology) headlined the defensive effort with three caused turnovers, while Krimzon Cleveland (Jr., Fond du Lac, Wis., Exercise Science), Raylee Halbrooks (Sr., Elgin, Okla., English), and Hoffman all caused two SAU turnovers.
Catrina Dinehart (Grad., Palmyra, N.Y., Master’s of Sports Management) finished with nine saves and six ground balls. Shauna Morton (Jr., Gainesville, Fla., Sports Management) and Cleveland tallied three ground balls as well.
WPU finished 14-for-23 in clears, while SAU was 15-for-21.
“Everyone played such a great game and left it all on the field,” Head Coach Joshua Bell said. “It was unfortunate that we got burned out in the substitution game after a couple players fouled out. Emily Ferguson deserves special recognition for playing like a stud both offensively and defensively. I am extremely proud of our players, even if the game did not turn out how we wanted.”
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Marshall, Mo. next Wednesday to face Missouri Valley in Heart play at 4 p.m.
