The Illinois Wesleyan University women’s lacrosse team is set to host Cornell College in a midweek game on Wednesday, March 4. The match will take place at Tucci Stadium in Bloomington, Illinois, with a scheduled start time of 6 p.m.
Illinois Wesleyan enters the contest with a 2-2 record after a recent loss to Lake Forest College, where they were defeated 21-6. In that game, sophomore Maddie Gibson led the Titans with four points, including one goal and three assists. Sophomore Lillie Keeton contributed two goals. Senior Anelise DiGiovanni collected five ground balls, while senior Sadie Newton had four caused turnovers. Both Newton and senior Sarah Riepe recorded four draw controls each. Sophomore Marli Brown made eight saves in goal during her 30 minutes of play.
DiGiovanni currently leads the team’s offense with 20 points this season, which ranks as the 16th-most nationally. Her nine goals and team-high eleven assists place her third in Division III for assists. Sophomore Sophie Shore follows with sixteen points from an even split between goals and assists. Gibson is third among point scorers with fourteen points from six goals and eight assists. Newton has scored eleven goals this season, while Keeton has ten.
Newton also leads Illinois Wesleyan in draw controls with twenty-three so far this year; Riepe has fourteen and Shore thirteen. Newton and Riepe are also leaders in ground balls for the team, recording nineteen and fourteen respectively; Brown follows closely behind with twelve.
Defensively, Illinois Wesleyan averages seventeen caused turnovers per game—ninth-best nationally—with Newton totaling sixteen caused turnovers so far this season. Her average of four per game ranks thirteenth in Division III; Shore has eleven caused turnovers and Riepe ten.
In goalkeeping duties for the Titans, Brown leads with twenty-eight saves over 150 minutes played and holds a .438 save percentage along with a 2-2 record as starter. Freshman Allison Vervynck has played ninety minutes between the posts, making twelve saves at a .364 save percentage.
This upcoming matchup marks only the third meeting between Illinois Wesleyan and Cornell College in program history—the first since 2016—where Illinois Wesleyan won both previous games against Cornell College, including a decisive 19-1 victory on February 20, 2016.
During that last meeting, Lauren Pavich led scoring for IWU with six points from three goals and three assists; Abby Kushina—now head coach of the Titans—scored three goals herself during that match-up.
Cornell College comes into Wednesday’s game seeking its first win after falling to University of Wisconsin-River Falls by a score of 16-2 on February 27.
Illinois Wesleyan Titans Women’s Lacrosse competes as part of NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics within the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW). The team plays home games at Tucci Stadium in Bloomington, Illinois according to their official website. The roster includes student-athletes from freshman through fifth-year classes according to official sources.
