MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's lacrosse team will travel to the campus of Rhodes College for the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament to play George Fox University Saturday, May 8 at 2 p.m. ET. The Titans earned their first-ever at-large bid, announced on Monday, May 3, to push them through to their fourth NCAA Tournament in program history.
    Illinois Wesleyan enters the postseason with a record of 10-3 after earning a share of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Regular Season Championship. George Fox is unbeaten on the season and holds a 13-0 record as Northwest Conference Champions.
    Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m .ET and can be viewed via live stream. Live stats for the game will also be available. Links to follow along can be found on the women's lacrosse schedule page of IWUsports.com.

IWU AND THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Titans are making their fourth straight NCAA appearance, a streak that dates back to the 2017 season. IWU holds a 2-3 record in the national tournament.
    IWU will travel down memory lane this weekend as the team's first NCAA appearance was at Rhodes College during the 2017 season. In 2018 IWU secured a spot in the second round for the first time after an 18-8 win over Hamline, but was halted by Middlebury in the second round. Similarly, the Titans took down Hamline 14-4 in the first round of the tournament in 2019, but the journey was cut short after a second round loss to Franklin and Marshall.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Saturday's meeting between Illinois Wesleyan and George Fox will be the first meeting between the two all-time. Coincidentally, the two were previously scheduled to meet during the 2021 regular season, but travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic nixed those plans.

TITANS AGAINST THE FIELD: Illinois Wesleyan weathered a tough schedule en route to its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. Of IWU's 13-game schedule, eight games were against teams in this year's tournament. The Titans went 5-3 in those games, notching wins against Aurora, UW-River Falls, Transylvania, Hamline, and Chicago. IWU were defeated by Carroll and Denison.

WILD, WILD, WEST: Regionally, the Titans are ranked third in the west, sitting behind CCIW opponents Chicago (1st) and Carroll (2nd). Meanwhile, George Fox is ranked seventh in the same region.

G.O.A.T: Janaye Godfrey the senior goalkeeper for the Titans, was named the CCIW Defensive Player of the Year, and also earned a spot on the All-CCIW First Team. Godfrey is only the second Titan to be named the CCIW's top defensive player and the second player in program history to be on the All-CCIW First Team three times in a career. During the regular season the senior made 120 saves, including a single game career-high 18 saves against NCAA bound UW-River Falls. Godfrey leads the CCIW with a .563 save percentage ahead of tournament play.

AWARDS APLENTY: Six Titans earned All-CCIW honors for the 2021 campaign. Joining Godfrey on the All-CCIW First Team was senior attacker Riley Rooney, junior midfielder Cassandra Jones, and senior defenders Anna Peters and Hannah Foley. Junior attacker Landry Elliott was a second team selection. The Titans' six selections were the second-most in program history, and the most since the 2017 season.