Statesmen Rally Past BC to Claim First-Ever Heart Championship

Atchison, Kan.--Avenging last weekend's loss and exorcising demons from a year ago, the William Penn men's lacrosse team came from behind to win its first-ever Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship crown with a 17-13 win over Benedictine in the finals Saturday.

Second-seeded WPU (15-2) upended the top-seeded Ravens (11-5) and will now advance to its first NAIA National Invitational.  The navy and gold will open the eight-team event in Savannah, Ga. as the #5 seed and will face #4 seed Cumberlands (Ky.) on Wednesday, May 8 at 11 a.m. (Central).

The first meeting between WPU and BC was a barn-burning one-goal setback for the Statesmen, and for most of the game it appeared the hosts might again have the visitor's number.  Benedictine scored the first three goals of the contest and led for all but two minutes of the first three quarters, but William Penn came alive down the stretch.  WPU, which lost to St. Ambrose in the 2023 title bout, is now 1-1 in Heart Championship Final games.

Down 3-0 after the first 10 minutes of action on Saturday, the visiting crew finally broke through with back-to-back goals from Wyatt Christensen (So., Madison, Wis., Biology) with Tim Pennington (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Biology) and Breck Putzier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Exercise Science) offering assists.

BC stretched the advantage back to two early in the second, but the navy and gold closed out the half on a 3-1 run, beginning with Putzier putting away a pass from Christensen.  Collin Baliva (Sr., St. Louis, Mo., Industrial Technology) then went unassisted, while Putzier, with help from Nate Blasingame (Jr., Portland, Ore., Business Management) tied the Ravens at 5-5 entering intermission.

The upward trajectory continued in the third period as Max Taylor (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Business Management) scored off a dish from Christensen to give the navy and gold their first lead with 10:46 to go in the quarter.

Unfortunately, the Ravens stole the lead back with five goals in a row, but Pennington tallied a massive unassisted score with just six seconds remaining as the Statesmen pulled to within three at 10-7 with 15 minutes left in regulation.

Taylor (from Putzier) opened the final stanza, but the Ravens answered right back to keep it at a three-goal margin.  Then, just out of the blue, William Penn found its way and went on one of its patented runs, something that never came in the first meeting between the two squads.

Boston Romero (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) got on the board at the 10:33 mark via a pass from Kenny Bohney (So., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) to start a 5-0 run that also included unassisted scores from Putzier (twice), Romero, and Pennington.  Over the span of just 2:45, the Statesmen turned a three-goal deficit into a two-goal edge.

BC finally stopped hemorrhaging to make it 13-12, but WPU did not allow hope to last for long, putting the game on ice with back-to-back unassisted tallies from Pennington in addition to a Taylor goal (unassisted).

Benedictine attempted to make the final minutes interesting, but Taylor (assist from Christensen) put the exclamation point on the victory in the last minute of play.

The trio of Putzier (also two assists), Pennington (also one assist), and Taylor all finished with four goals.  Christensen had two goals with three helpers, while Romero notched a pair of winners.

The Statesmen won despite coming up short in numerous categories.  They were outshot 51-44 and committed 28 turnovers (21 for BC).  The visitors also struggled in clears at 13-for-26, while the Ravens were 15-for-23.  Additionally, WPU lost the ground ball battle 38-32.

None of those numbers mattered in the end because William Penn was dominant in the face-off circle, winning 23 of the 33 contests.  Blasingame guided WPU with a 14-for-18 showing, while Ryan Swarts (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Industrial Technology) was 9-for-15.  Blasingame also collected seven ground balls, while Max Standage (So., Gilbert, Ariz., Public Accounting) picked up six.

Noah Braegger (Fr., West Point, Utah, General Accounting) guided the defensive line with three caused turnovers; Blake Cyboron (So., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Civil Engineering) recorded two in the victory.

Eric Garigan (Grad., Tucson, Ariz., Master's of Organizational Leadership) came up with 15 saves against Benedictine.