ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The McKendree University women's lacrosse concluded the road portion of its 2022 schedule here Saturday afternoon by posting a 17-10 victory over Missouri Western State University in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Spratt Stadium.
 
With the win, the Bearcats improve to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in the GLVC, while Missouri Western falls to 6-9 overall and 0-5 in the league. With one week left in the regular season, the Bearcats are sitting in fourth place in the league standings as they are a game in front of fifth place Lewis and a game behind third place Rockhurst.
 
In Saturday's win, the Bearcats used a seven goal third period to turn a 7-5 halftime lead into a 14-8 edge heading into the fourth period.
 
The Bearcats held a 40-26 advantage in shots and put 34 of those 40 shots on goal against the Griffons as they improved to 5-6 away from home this season.
 
Leading the way offensively for the Bearcats was junior attacker Sydney Tiemann (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) as she scored a school record nine goals on 13 shots in the win. The nine goals bettered the old school record of eight goals most recently set earlier this season by junior attacker Kat Albrecht (Louisville, Ky./Eastern) against Ashland.
 
In addition to Tiemann's school record nine goals, graduate student midfielder Oriana Johnson (Monticello, Minn./Monticello) added five goals on 11 shots and had two ground balls and caused a turnover.
 
The Bearcats defense forced Missouri Western into 25 turnovers, including 17 caused turnovers. Freshman attacker Sophia Scheller (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) led the way in caused turnovers with four, while Albrecht and sophomore defender Olivia Julian (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) each had three caused turnovers in the game.
 
McKendree also recorded a season high 21 ground balls against the Griffons Scheller and junior defender Molly Muennich (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) each had four, while Julian and junior goalie Clara Andrews (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) each had three.
 
Andrews (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) played all 60 minutes between the pipes as she added 11 saves to go with her three ground balls.
 
MWSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening three minutes of the game, but Tiemann would answer back with three straight goals, the latter one at 5:20 left in the opening period gave the Bearcats a 3-2 lead. After Morgan Nicholson retied the game at 3-all with 3:14 left in the period, Tiemann would score an unassisted goal with 1:46 remaining to give the Bearcats a 4-3 lead after the opening 15 minutes of play.
 
Johnson, Albrecht and freshman attacker Mya Cobb (Newbergh, Ind./Castle) would score goals in the second period to give the Bearcats a 7-5 lead at the half.
Nicholson would score two goals sandwiched between a goal by Albrecht to open the third period to pull the Griffons within 9-7, but two goals by Tiemann and a goal by Johnson gave McKendree a 12-7 lead with 4:58 left in the third period.
 
Amani Robinson would stop the Bearcats goal run with a goal of her own with 3:43 left in the period, before Johnson capped the third period with two consecutive goals, the second one being a man-up goal, to give the Bearcats a 14-8 lead heading into the final period.
 
In the final period, Tiemann would score all three of the Bearcats' goals, including scoring an unassisted goal with 1:37 left in the game to set the school's single game mark for scoring.
 
MWSU was paced offensively by three goals from Nicholson, while Sam Pruitt added two goals in the loss.
 
The Griffons won the draw control battle in the game, 20-10 as Nicholson picked up six draw controls. Tiemann would record four for McKendree.
 
MacKenzie Porter and Kari Ham shared time in goal for the Griffons as along with allowing 17 goals, they combined for 17 saves, including 13 saves for Porter.
 
The Bearcats will return to action next Friday, April 22 as they host Lewis for a 7 p.m. game at Leemon Field in Lebanon, Ill.