DAVENPORT — The William Penn women’s lacrosse team saw its best season in program history come to an close Wednesday as it fell 13-12 in overtime to #2 seed St. Ambrose in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Semifinals.

The Statesmen (10-4), who won a school-record 10 games, attempted to avenge a loss to the Queen Bees from 14 days prior, but could not overcome being outshot 37-26 and losing the draw control battle 18-10.  Madison Reed (Sr., Shakopee, Minn., Secondary Education) kept her team in the game with 13 saves.

WPU came out scorching hot with Emily Ferguson (Jr., Waterloo, N.Y., Exercise Science) finding the back of the net at the 13:59 mark.  Jenna Donlan (Sr., Tampa, Fla., Business Management) then made it 2-0 just 54 seconds later.  The Queen Bees (8-6) answered right back, however, with back-to-back scores, but Ferguson, with help from MacKenzie Petersen (Sr., Albertville, Minn., Public Accounting), and Bailee Royal (Sr., Hallsville, Texas, Sports Management) recaptured the advantage.

Both sides tallied one more goal with Ferguson making it 5-3 in favor of William Penn entering the second quarter.

Royal and Ferguson would each beat the SAU goalkeeper in the second stanza, while the hosts poured in three goals as the navy and gold’s lead was trimmed to one at 7-6 heading into halftime.

St. Ambrose took control of the contest in the third with three consecutive tallies for a 9-7 edge.  WPU fortunately regrouped and then shut down the Queen Bees for over 10 minutes, while Petersen (assist from Kenzington Winget (So., West Jordan, Utah, Sports Management)) and Royal returned to their offensive ways to knot the contest at 9-9.  Unfortunately, SAU scored a deflating goal with just four seconds left in the period to go up by one with 15 minutes to play.

Royal made it clear she was not ready for her collegiate career to be over as she single-handedly kept the Statesmen in it with three fourth-quarter goals, including a free position score with 2:28 remaining to give WPU its final lead at 12-11.

The home team unfortunately recorded the equalizer less than a minute later.  A last-second Statesmen shot was blocked as the matchup was sent to overtime.

In overtime, the victors claimed the opening draw control and 27 seconds later scored the game-winner.

Royal had a team-high six goals along with one assist and four ground balls, while Ferguson was right behind her with four scores.

“A heartbreaking game to end the season but the collective body of work was a massive succcess,” said Head Coach Luke Christiansen. “All the credit to the seniors and team leaders for raising the standard of Statesmen lacrosse moving forward.”