BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan women's lacrosse team bounced back from a two-game skid on Wednesday, March 6, defeating DePauw University by a final score of 17-5. Junior Grainne Kelly was the team-leader in points with seven after she tallied four goals and three assists on the evening.

With a win the Titans head into their spring break road-trip with an overall record of 3-2. DePauw fell to 0-4 in the season following a loss to IWU.

Illinois Wesleyan's defense stifled the Tiger offense, allowing them just 12 total shots during the contest and nine shots on goal. The Titans won the turnover battle over DePauw 26-21, which featured three caused turnovers from senior Mariah Smith. DePauw struggled to clear the ball in the first half as IWU held them to a 5-of-12 performance on clearance attempts for the half, and 10-of-17 overall. Illinois Wesleyan was nearly perfect on the day, successfully clearing the ball on 12-of-13 attempts. IWU dominated the draw control, winning 20 draws to four for the Tigers. Junior Dani Engelbreit came away with a career-high nine draw controls during the contest.

Engelbreit matched Kelly's goal total and finished with one assist to add five points to her season tally. Junior Sam Bidlack recorded five assists to match Engelbreit point total. Also scoring the Titans were Smith (2), freshman Riley Rooney (2), senior Claudia Richman (2), senior Abby Kushina (1), freshman Maggie Torres (1), and junior Heather Grimmer (1). Each of Rooney and Engelbreit picked up a team-high four ground balls, but were closely contested by senior Claire Quist, Kelly, Smith, and Bidlack who all picked up three.

Freshman Janaye Godfrey earned her second win of the season in goal, allowing three goals and making one save in 34 minutes of time in net. Quist appeared in goal for 26 minutes allowing two goals and making three saves.

A quick 3-0 lead for the Titans forced Tiger head coach Tucker Glass to call for time, but it didn't prove successful as Illinois Wesleyan would score 30-seconds later on a shot from Rooney. DePauw would eventually get on the board with a goal from Sarah Ramsey in the seventh minute of the contest. Following DePauw's initial score the Titans went on a massive 7-0 run to take an 11-1 lead. Back-to-back goals from the Tigers saw the Titans lead slip to 11-3 heading into halftime.

Illinois Wesleyan wasted no time swinging the momentum back in their favor, scoring five unanswered goals to open the second half. Defense from both sides tightened up with less than 10 minutes to play resulting in just three total goals being scored.

DePauw was led in scoring by Erica Rapelje who notched a two goal brace. Sophie Hensely and Ramsey tied for the team-high in assists with one. Sarah Biely picked up a team-best four ground balls and Rapelje won each of the team four draw controls. Kathryn Hopkins took the loss in goal allowing 17 goals and making six saves.

What's Next?
The Titans are set for a spring break trip that features stops in Danville, Ky., Sewanee, Tenn., and Granville, Ohio. Illinois Wesleyan's next match is against Centre College located in Danville, Ky. on Saturday, March 10 at 12 p.m. Centre currently holds a record of 3-1 and recently defeated DePauw by a final score of 15-3 on Feb. 25.