DAVENPORT — The William Penn men’s lacrosse team faltered down the stretch Wednesday as it fell 10-9 to St. Ambrose in Heart of America Athletic Conference play.
WPU (10-3, 7-2 Heart) led 8-6 entering the final quarter of action, but could not hold off the Fighting Bees (8-4, 7-2 Heart). Despite the loss, the Statesmen retained the No. 2 seed for the Heart Championship with a tiebreaker (goal differential in league competition) over SAU and Columbia.
As the No. 2 seed in the Heart Championship, William Penn receives a bye in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. The Statesmen will travel to Atchison, Kan. next Thursday for the semifinals, taking on the quarterfinal round winner of No. 3 Columbia vs. No. 6 Missouri Baptist.
The sides went without a goal for the first four minutes on the field Wednesday before the hosts finally scored at the 10:32 mark.
Three minutes later, Matt Scott (Fr., Denver, Colo., Sports Management), off a pass from Garrett Katrana (So., Parker, Colo., Industrial Technology), tied the score.
The Fighting Bees regained the advantage, but Katrana, who finished with seven assists, found Harley Williams (Sr., Edmonton, Alberta, Political Science) who deposited the ball into the netting for another tie just 30 seconds down the road.
Katrana then helped Everett Breniser (So., Centennial, Colo., Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) and Kenny Bohney (Sr., Moorhead, Minn., Exercise Science) give the visitors a 4-2 edge before SAU closed out the opening stanza with a goal.
The navy and gold were slightly more proficient in a quieter second period as Lucas Cox (Fr., Memphis, Tenn., Kinesiology) (unassisted) and Breniser (assisted by Katrana) outscored St. Ambrose 2-1 for a 6-4 halftime lead.
WPU looked poised to blow the contest open with a pair of scores in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Bohney and Katrana linked up for the first, while Katrana (from Williams) made it 8-4 with 12:22 still remaining in the period.
Unfortunately, the Fighting Bees locked down from there, scoring less than a minute later and again with only four ticks left in the third to draw within two at 8-6.
William Penn’s scoring drought continued well into the final period, while the home team put three more scores on the board to recapture the edge at 9-8.
The Statesmen were not throwing in the proverbial towel just yet, however, as Williams took a pass from Katrana and beat St. Ambrose’s goalkeeper to even the score at 9-9 with 5:21 left.
SAU had the last say in the matter unfortunately as it went on top for good at the 3:16 mark. William Penn produced four possessions down the stretch, but was unable to record the equalizer in the loss.
Katrana finished with eight points (one goal, seven assists), while Williams (two goals, one assist), Bohney (two goals), and Breniser (two goals) accounted for multiple points as well.
WPU held a 38-36 edge in shots and committed just 21 turnovers, compared to 23 for St. Ambrose. The Statesmen also successfully cleared the ball 23 out of 27 times, while the Fighting Bees were just 18-for-28.
Unfortunately, a tough showing in faceoffs (6-for-21) doomed William Penn. The squad also lost the ground ball battle at 34-32. Bryce Campbell (Sr., Meridian, Idaho, Kinesiology), who was 6-for-16 in faceoffs, tied Drew Swanson (So., West Des Moines, Iowa, Mechanical and Software Engineering) for the team lead in ground balls with five. Swanson was credited with three caused turnovers as well.
Connor Russell (Sr., Grand Haven, Mich., Applied Computer Science) managed 16 saves in front of the cage Wednesday.
“We are in a bit of a slump right now, and need to figure out how to finish games,” Head Coach Luke Christiansen said. “All of our goals are still attainable, and now it is time to get ready for the playoffs.”
