BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan University men's lacrosse team hits the road after a pair of home games, as the Titans face Elmhurst University for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin matchup Saturday, April 18. Game time at Langhorst Field is set for a noon start. 

Illinois Wesleyan is one game ahead of Elmhurst in conference play, and the two are the last remaining undefeated teams in CCIW action. IWU carries a 10-2, 2-0 CCIW record into Saturday, while Elmhurst is 10-1 and 1-0 in the CCIW. The Bluejays are coming off their only loss of the season against No. 15 Denison University, 17-12, back on April 12. Elmhurst is led by its junior attack Eli Spence, who leads Division III with 7.45 points per game and 4.73 goals per game. 

The Titans have won four straight games after sweeping conference action at home last week against North Central College, 11-9 (April 9), and Carthage College, 19-11 (April 12). Senior Nick Horrocks (Boulder, Colo.-Fairview) net CCIW Defensive Player of the Week honors after totaling 10 ground balls and six caused turnovers over two games that included career-highs of five caused turnovers and six ground balls against North Central. 

IWU is most recently coming off an 11-9 comeback win over Carthage that saw senior Sam Weinberg (Highwood, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) score the game-tying and go-ahead goals for the Green and White in the fourth quarter. Weinberg tied for the team-lead with five points alongside sophomore Timothy McHugh (Orland Park, Ill.-Mount Carmel), whose points all came by way of assists. 

Senior Nick Schroeder (Waunakee, Wis.-Waunakee) went 11-for-22 at the X and had six ground balls and one caused turnover. Junior Karsten Nordlie (Roscoe, Ill.-Hononegah Community) had a team-high two caused turnovers with five scoops, to tie for the second-most ground balls with junior Billy McHugh (Orland Park, Ill.-Mount Carmel). Senior Colin Tervo (West Linn, Ore.-West Linn) had multiple clutch saves against the Firebirds as he totaled 13 on the day. 

McHugh leads the team in points through 12 games this season, totaling 58 on 19 goals and 39 assists. The sophomore tops the conference with his 3.25 assists per game and is third in the league with 4.83 points per game. Additionally, McHugh ranks eighth across Division III this season in assists per game. 

Fifth-year Ike Eastburn (Colorado Springs, Colo.-Cheyenne Mountain) ranks seventh in Division III with a .532 shot percentage and sits 25th nationally with 3.42 goals per game. Eastburn is second on the team in points with 42, with 41 of those being from goals and one assist.

IWU's defensive front continues to impress, leading the conference in both caused turnovers per game (12.17) and ground balls per game (41.08). The Titan defense also ranks 26th and 17th in those categories, respectively.

Saturday will mark the 15th meeting with the Bluejays as IWU holds a 13-1 advantage over Elmhurst dating back to the 2014 season. In the inaugural matchup 11 years ago, Elmhurst came away with the 7-6 win in double overtime, April 21, 2014. Since then, IWU has built up a 13-game winning streak over the Bluejays that includes the regular season and tournament sweep a season ago. The Green and White took down Elmhurst May, 4, 2024 in a thrilling 12-11 victory to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In that contest, then-sophomore Noah Dretzka (Delafield, Wis.-Kettle Moraine) totaled five points off four assists and a goal while current fifth-year Gage Black (Peoria, Ill.-Dunlap) had four points on three goals and an assist. Tervo recorded 18 saves in the contest. 

Saturday's CCIW contest will be available via live stats and live stream. Access to both can be found here or on the men's lacrosse schedule page of iwusports.com.