BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan women's lacrosse team bested Carthage College by a final score of 17-2 on a rain-filled Sunday, April 15. IWU scored 12 goals in the first half to take a commanding 12-1 lead into halftime.

With a win the Titans improved to 9-4 with an unblemished 3-0 mark in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW). Carthage, who entered play as the CCIW's fourth place team, fell to 8-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

Freshman Janaye Godfrey was the winning goalkeeper making three first half saves. Godfrey was relieved by senior Claire Quist who made four saves in the second half. Carthage's Maggie Allen took the loss allowing 17 goals and making 11 saves.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Illinois Wesleyan opened the game scoring nine unanswered goals. Junior Dani Engelbreit contributed four goals during the run and junior Claudia Richman added three.
• Carthage's Rachel Mussell scored their first goal of the game with four minutes to play in the first half.
• Goals from senior Mariah Smith, junior Grainne Kelly, and sophomore Amanda Best provided the Titans with a 12-1 lead at halftime. Best scored Illinois Wesleyan's 12th goal of the contest in the final seconds of the half.
• Freshman Riley Rooney and Engelbreit each scored in the fist three minutes of the second half to extend Illinois Wesleyan's lead to a comfortable 14-1.
• Two second-half goals from Richman gave IWU a 17-1 lead. Richman matched her career-high of five goals that she set against St. Mary's (Ind.) on March 21.

SIGNIFICANT STATISTICS

• Illinois Wesleyan out-shot the Lady Reds 31-9 overall and 28-9 in shots on goal.
• The Titans finished a perfect 13-of-13 on the draw control in the first half and were 18-of-20 overall.
• Defensively, IWU held Carthage to an 0-7 performance on clearance attempts in the first half. The Lady Reds finished the contest 7-of-16 on clearance attempts.
• Grainne Kelly assisted on a career-high five goals, besting her previous mark of four set against Elmhurst on April 26, 2017.
• Freshman Maggie Torres caused a career-high four turnovers.

TITAN TEAM LEADERS
Points: Kelly (9), Engelbreit (7)
Goals: Richman (5), Engelbreit (5)
Assists: Kelly (5), Engelbreit (2), Rooney (2), Smith (2), Sam Bidlack (2)
Ground balls: Smith (4), Engelbreit (3), Bidlack (3), Torres (3)
Draw controls: Smith (8), Engelbreit (4)
Caused turnovers: Engelbreit (4), Torres (4)
Saves: Quist (4), Godfrey (3)

WHAT'S NEXT?
Illinois Wesleyan will travel to Mequon, Wis. for a 4 p.m. game against Concordia University (Wis.) on Thursday, April 19. Concordia is 8-4 this season with losses to CCIW opponents North Central and Carthage.