ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – In just under five years since she was hired to mastermind the women's lacrosse program at Illinois Wesleyan University, head coach Lindsey Kellar has led the team to its first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament championship.

With a 14-12 victory over No. 1-seeded Augustana College on Saturday, May 6, the regionally-ranked Titans claimed both the CCIW crown and their first automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Division III championships. A win also marks the Titans first victory over Augustana in program history, having lost in each of the previous four meetings.

IWU's overall season record improved to 14-5 with a win on Saturday while regular season champion Augustana fell to 11-7 on the year.

Down 2-0 early in the first-half, sophomore Claudia Richman found the back of the net to score the Titan's first goal of the afternoon. Augustana regained a two goal lead shortly thereafter as Olivia Mayer's second of five goals gave the Vikings a 3-1 lead. Illinois Wesleyan quickly stole momentum back from Augustana when sophomore Sara Dust won the draw control and scored just seven seconds later. On the ensuing possession, senior Maggie Krause score the game-tying goal to force a Viking timeout.

A free-position goal from freshman Amanda Best gave the Titans their first lead of the game at 4-3 prior to a free-position goal from Augustana. With the score tied a 4-all, Illinois Wesleyan scored four unanswered goals to take a commanding 8-4 lead. After the Vikings cut IWU's lead to two with eight minutes to play in the half junior Abby Kushina and sophomore Dani Engelbreit each hit pay-dirt to give the Titans a 10-6 lead at halftime.

Augustana opened the second-half by scoring five unanswered goals against the Titans to take an 11-10 lead. With their backs against the wall, Illinois Wesleyan rallied back starting with a game-tying goal from Richman at the 12:10 mark. Sophomore Sam Bidlack, Engelbreit, and Dust each followed suit to give the Titans a 14-11 lead heading into the final minutes of the contest. Augustana scored once more late, but it wasn't enough to overcome the four goal deficit.

Junior Claire Quist earned the win in goal making three saves and collecting three ground balls. Engelbreit led the team with five ground balls and four caused turnovers. Sophomore Breanna Metry tied for the team-high with five ground balls while causing two turnovers.

Engelbreit and Krause tied for a team-high with four points each. Krause led the team with three assists while Engelbreit scored twice and assisted on two. Dust and Richman tied for the team-high with three goals apiece. Three goals matched Richman's season-high set against Benedictine on 3/4/17. Sophomore Grainne Kelly and Kushina each finished the game with one goal and two assists.

What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan will find out who they match-up with on Sunday, May 7 during the NCAA D-III Women's Lacrosse Selection Show which can be viewed here. The first round of the tournament is set to begin on Saturday, May 13 with each game starting at 1:00 p.m. local time.