LEBANON, Ill. – The women's lacrosse team will make their home slate debut this weekend when they host Thomas More University on Saturday, February 28th at 12:00 PM and will be back early next week to take on the University of Findlay on Wednesday, March 4th at 3:00 PM starting time. 

Both contests will be streamed live and on-demand on the Bearcats' GLVC Sports Network with a download/subscription purchase required, as live stats will also be provided to the public. 

SCOUTING THE LAST OUTINGS 

The team took it on the road to start of their 2026 season, where they dropped their opener at Northern Michigan University on Thursday, but followed up with their initial win at Concordia University, St. Paul on Sunday to begin 1-1 on the year. At Northern Michigan the Wildcats opened up the contest with two of its first goals, until sophomore midfielder Elle Garriock (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) gave McKendree their first of the season by firing one inside to cut the deficit to one. A five-goal spurt by the Wildcats bled into the second period, almost six minutes in, but a free position shot by junior midfielder Mackenzie Stroisch (Arnold, Mo.) found the back of the net to get the Bearcats right back on the board. A 2-0 run by the Bearcats came about in less than a two-minute span, as freshman attacker Elora Waardenburg (Cobble Hill, British Columbia, Canada) and junior midfielder Lexi Macleod (Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada) contributed on the pair to be down 4-9 to the opposition. Yet, Northern Michigan tacked on two more to close the half 11-4 in their favor. After a sluggish third quarter that saw just one goal scored by only the Wildcats, the fourth period of play was clinched by Northern Michigan with three more goals to get them to 15 on the day. Macleod notched in one more for her team with 4:42 left in regulation, but it could not match the foe, as the Bearcats would drop their season opener 5-15. Macleod finished with a team-high two goals on four shot attempts (50.0%) to go with a ground ball, a pair of caused turnovers, and two draw controls. Waardenburg, Garriock, and Stroisch each tabbed one goal in the setback. Junior goalkeeper Amber Hayden (Woburn, Mass.) stayed in the net the entire 32 minutes of play and recorded 13 saves, two ground balls, and one caused turnover.  

At Concordia-St. Paul, it took a third of the way through the first quarter of action for the Bearcats to get their rhythm going after falling behind by three-zip to CSP. The senior attacker Jayn Barnden (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) gave her squad their first goal off a free position shot to ignite an early monumental 5-0 run to flip the score in their favor with sophomore attacker Ariyah LaFrance (Akwesasne, N.Y.) being in on a pair of them. The story would become similar for the second period, as the Golden Bears struck first with the first three scoring possessions to start off and retake the one-point edge, but LaFrance was there to stop them from adding on any further with her third goal of the game already. Leading scorer in the last outing Macleod and sophomore attacker Sofia Mullen (Lakeside, Nova Scotia, Canada) supplemented the three-goal spurt to head into the half up 8-6. Momentum would continue for McKendree at the start off period number two after LaFrance netted a pair in four straight team goals to make it a 7-0 run by the Bearcats to extend their lead to double the opposition (+6). A Golden Bear shot sailed in to halt the bleeding on their defense, yet Barnden got her second ball to find its way into the post with Stroisch also getting herself a pair within the game to take a 14-7 lead heading into the final quarter of regulation. The two sides would take shots back-and-forth for the final 15 minutes of play. Waardenburg put in two straight for the team, with the former coming via a man-down and the latter converted on a man-up opportunity. CSP made one more final push down the stretch, but Stroisch and LaFrance got themselves inside to clutch in two more scores to reel off the 18-11 win on the road for their season's first victory. LaFrance notched a career-best eight points off a double-hat-trick of six goals to go with a pair of assists, as she did so on 12 total shots (50.0%) and 10 shots on goal (60.0%) while tying a career-high of two ground balls, where she done so twice before. Waardenburg and Barnden each tabbed five points in the win, with the former getting a three-goal hat-trick and two assists, while the latter earned a pair of scores on 100% shooting with a trio of assists, with two ground balls and three draw controls combined between the two. Stroisch was the third Bearcat to earn a hat-trick with three goals to give her a career-high in that category to go with a ground ball, a caused turnover, and two draw controls. Hayden played all 60 minutes in the net and recorded 15 saves on a 57.7 save percentage for her 11th game saving 15+ shot attempts. She also came away with four ground balls and an assist. 

HISTORY SHOWCASE 

Against Thomas More, this will be the third-ever meeting between the two schools, as they met in each of the last two seasons. McKendree came away victorious in both outings by a decisive margin, beating the Saints 13-3 in Lebanon in 2024 and pulling out a 19-14 win in Crestview Hills in 2025. 

Against Findlay, the series has been going on for a bit longer, as this will be the 11th matchup in the history between the two former GLIAC members. The head-to-head is tied evenly at 5-5, as the Bearcats have gained the most recent success of winning four of the last five matchups, including the most recent two. At Leemon Field, the series is also tied 3-3. 

KNOW THE FOES 

The Saints were picked to finish fourth in the nine-member Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll prior to the season. Like the Bearcats, Thomas More is coming into the matchup with a 1-1 record overall and has yet to play in conference action. Last year, the Saints finished with a 5-14 overall record and went 4-4 in G-MAC play, but did win the conference's quarterfinals against Tiffin University 19-17 before falling to the one-seed Ashland University 7-21. 

The Oilers were second-place favorites in this year's G-MAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, including two first-place getters to trail only Ashland by five points. The team has only played once so far to start the season, as they squashed the Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State University last Saturday in Michigan with a 15-4 score. Findlay finished last season with a 9-11 record, but did well in conference play with a 6-2 mark. They came away victorious in the G-MAC quarterfinals and semifinals against Malone University and Walsh University, respecitvely before also concluding their season to the Eagles of Ashland via a 3-20 score. 

NCAA's TOP 25 (as of 2/25/26) 

McKENDREE 

Team: 

• Assists per game (21st – 7.0) 
• Save percentage (20th – 51.9%) 

Individual: 

• Amber Hayden –– save percentage (17th – 51.9%), total saves (14th – 28), saves per game (4th – 14.0) 
• Abby Drinkwalter –– shot percentage (1st – 100%) 
• Jayna Barnden –– shots per game (21st – 8.0), shots on goal per game (11th – 7.0) 

THOMAS MORE 

Team: 

• Assists per game (19th – 7.5) 
• Caused turnovers per game (14th – 14.0) 
• Draw controls per game (3rd – 19.0) 
• Points per game (22nd – 21.5) 
• Shots per game (8th – 36.5) 
• Shots on goal per game (13th – 25.5) 

Individual: 

• Alex Nunn –– caused turnovers per game (6th – 4.0), draw controls per game (3rd – 11.0) 
• Anna Wells –– goals per game (4th – 5.0), points per game (5th – 6.5), shots per game (2nd – 12.0), shots on goal per game (2nd – 9.0) 

FINDLAY 

Team: 

• Assists per game (3rd – 11.0) 
• Draw controls per game (10th – 65.0) 
• Ground balls per game (5th – 30.0) 
• Points per game (4th – 26.0) 
• Scoring defense (5th – 4.0) 
• Scoring margin (8th – 11.0) 
• Scoring offense (17th – 15.0) 
• Shots per game (6th – 37.0) 
• Shots on goal per game (5th – 31.0) 
• Win percentage (1st – 100%) 

Individual: 

• Karissa Allbright –– draw controls per game (5th – 9.0), goals per game (17th – 4.0), ground balls per game (24th – 4.0), shot percentage (1st – 100%) 
• Kendra Stevens –– ground balls per game (24th – 4.0) 
• Holly Newport –– shot percentage (1st – 100%) 
• Rebecca Chmiel –– shots per game (11th – 9.0), shots on goal per game (7th – 8.0) 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After McKendree makes their home debut, it is back out of town for the team, as they win enact on a five-game road trip that will start in Colorado for a three-game stretch of schools from The Centennial State, beginning with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs at the Mountain Lion Stadium at 1:00 PM CT. 

The contests will be streamed live and on-demand on the RMAC Network via a subscription/download purchase required, as live stats will also be available for fans to tune in. 

TUNE IN-FO 

DATE	TIME (CT)	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	LIVE STATS	WATCH LIVE
2/28/26	12:00 PM	McKendree	Thomas More	STATS	WATCH ($)
3/4/26	3:00 PM	McKendree	Findlay	STATS	WATCH ($)

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