NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The Illinois Wesleyan University women's lacrosse team defeated St. Mary's College (Ind.) by a final score of 16-7 on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Junior Claudia Richman led the way for the Titans on offense scoring a career-high five goals which bested her previous mark of four set against Carroll University on April 30, 2016.
 
With a win the Titans improved to 5-4 on the season while St. Mary's dropped their first game of the season and fell to 4-1.
 
Illinois Wesleyan out-shot the Belles 27-25 overall and 13-9 in the second half of action. The Titans won 14-of-25 draw controls and were led in the draw by junior Dani Engelbreit who won five while collecting a team-high seven ground balls. Defensively, IWU saw success stopping the Belles on their clearance attempts holding St. Mary's to a 14-of-27 performance. Illinois Wesleyan was successful on 17-of-22 of clear attempts and finished the second half converting on 8-of-10 chances.

Five Titans added a pair of goals to their season tally on Friday. Senior Abby Kushina, junior Sam Bidlack, and Engelbreit each scored twice and assisted on two goals apiece. Engelbreit also led the team in caused turnovers with four. Senior Mariah Smith scored twice with one assist and freshman Riley Rooney added two goals for the Titans. Smith was second on the team in ground balls with five. Junior Grainne Kelly finished the game with one goal and one assist.

Freshman Janaye Godfrey earned the victory in goal making 10 saves and allowing four goals. Godfrey now holds a 4-3 record in goal this season.

With the scored knotted up at 4-all mid-way through the first half the Titans went on a 7-0 run that spanned 19 minutes to take a commanding 11-4 lead over the Belles. IWU scored the final three goals of the first half before carrying that momentum into the second and scoring the first four goals of the period.

St. Mary's countered with two goals of their own bringing the score to 11-6, but Illinois Wesleyan responded with a 5-0 run to lead 16-6 with five minutes to play. IWU stood tall on defense allowing the Belles to score one goal in the remaining minutes.

Erin Doyle led the Belles in scoring with five goals and Kate Kelly led the team in assists with two. Rachael Leonard led the team in ground balls with seven. In goal, Kendra Osinski made eight saves and allowed 17 goals.
 
What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan will travel to Aurora University on Saturday, March 24 for a 1 p.m. meeting with the Spartans. Aurora enters Saturday's game with a record of 3-2 after defeating Wartburg College by a final score of 10-4 on Saturday, March 17.