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Marli Brown in goal against Aurora Feb. 25, 2026
Audrey Peterson
14
Winner Aurora AURORA 1-0, 0-0
9
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 2-1, 0-0
Winner
Aurora AURORA
1-0, 0-0
14
Final
9
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
2-1, 0-0
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Aurora AURORA 5 2 5 2 14
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 1 1 3 4 9

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse |

Women’s Lacrosse Suffers First Loss of Season to Aurora

Titans drop battle with Spartans, 14-9

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Aurora University, falling 14-9 Wednesday night, Feb. 25. The loss drops the Titans to 2-1 on the season, while the Spartans open their 2026 campaign 1-0.

Shining for the Green and White in goal, sophomore Marli Brown (Kansas City, Mo.-Notre Dame de Sion) shattered her career-high with 15 saves, which ranks tied for ninth-most in a game in program history. The sophomore also added a career-best six ground balls to lead the team, along with two caused turnovers.

Sophomore Sophie Shore (St. Peters, Mo.-Francis Howell Central) paced Illinois Wesleyan with four goals, the most in a game in her career, and five points. Senior Sadie Newton (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) added three goals, while senior Anelise DiGiovanni (Lockport, Ill.-Lockport Township) net two.

At the draw, Newton tallied a team-best five draw controls, followed by three from Shore, while the two added five and three ground balls, respectively. Senior Sarah Riepe (Aurora, Ill.-St. Francis) scooped up four ground balls for the Green and White. Defensively, Newton also totaled a team-best four caused turnovers, while Shore added three, and five Titans finished with two.

As a team, the Titans finished with the lead in saves (15-9) and caused turnovers (17-14). IWU converted on 9-of-22 clear attempts. Aurora recorded the edge in shots (36-21), shots on goal (27-13), ground balls (28-24), draw controls (15-10), and went 12-of-21 on clear attempts. 

Up a person after an Aurora green card, Newton ran around the crease and buried a shot to get the Titans on the board with 3:59 remaining in the first period, cutting AU's advantage to 4-1.

Junior Sydney Gragert (Odell, Ill.-Pontiac Township) picked off a Spartan pass, and drew a green card to set up the Illinois Wesleyan offense with a woman-up opportunity. Taking time to set up the play, Gibson dished a pass to DiGiovanni for a goal, making it 6-2 in favor of AU with just under three minutes remaining in the opening half.

The Spartans net one more to take a 7-2 lead into halftime.

Winning the draw to begin the second half, Newton drove through the AU defense and scored to cut the gap to four, 7-3. Brown came through with a free-position save to keep the Titans in the race on the following possession. 

Aurora found the back of the net twice before the Titans could respond. DiGiovanni buried her second goal of the night, this time coming off a pass from Shore to bring the score to 9-4 in favor of the visitors with 7:33 left to play in the third quarter.

Trailing by six, Shore capitalized on a free-position attempt, with her goal cutting into the deficit to make it 10-5 with 4:38 left to play in the third. Aurora quickly responded, and found the back of the net to take a 12-5 lead into the final period.

Facing a point-blank shot quickly to open the fourth period, Brown made a save to get the Green and White the ball. Shore stayed hot, as she split the AU defense and found the back of the net for her second of four goals on the day, bringing the score to 12-6 with 13:37 remaining.

Illinois Wesleyan could not get the game any closer than a five-goal gap, ultimately falling 14-9. 

The Titans hit the road for the first time this season, heading to Lake Forest College for a Saturday contest, Feb. 28. Action is set to begin at 11 a.m. at Farwell Field.
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