LEBANON, Ill. – The women's lacrosse team will hit the road once again to push through their conference slate, as they will take on Lewis University and the No.3 University of Indianapolis this week.

The Bearcats and the Flyers will go head-to-head on Friday, April 10th with a 5:30 PM CT draw time in Romeoville, Illinois at Lewis Stadium. From there, McKendree will face the high-octane Greyhounds at 10:00 AM CT on Sunday, April 12th in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Both games will be streamed live and on demand on the GLVC Sports Network with a subscription/download purchase required. Live stats will also be made available to the public. Tickets for both contests can be found on the respective institutions' athletic websites. 

SCOUTING THE LAST OUTINGS 

The team could not close out the non-conference slate with a win against Dominican University of California, as it halted their win streak at eight games. The Bearcats opened up GLVC play against a fiery No.9 Maryville University, to which they could not out on top and drop both of their matches in their long-awaited return to home turf. 

In their game against Dominican, they held McKendree scoreless through the first quarter of action, while dropping in the first six of the game. Four minutes and 10 seconds into the second period, McKendree finally got themselves on the board after sophomore midfielder Lauren Blackburn (Louisville, Ky.) intercepted a clear attempt by the Penguins, to which she lobbed it inside to sophomore attacker Ariyah LaFrance (Akwesasne, N.Y.), who would sling it inside. After a three-goal response by the Penguins to extend their lead to eight, GLVC Offensive Player of the Week Jayna Barnden (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) made use of a man-up opportunity to give herself her 36th goal of the season, and followed up with an assist to GLVC Defender of the Week Lexi Macleod (Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada) for her first goal of the match. Momentum continued to ride for the Bearcats into the second half despite being down 3-9, as LaFrance would get the power play goal and Barnden converted on the short distance of a free-position shot. A fastbreak dish by freshman attacker Elora Waardenburg (Cobble Hill, British Columbia, Canada) found the sophomore attacker Sofia Mullen (Lakeside, Nova Scotia, Canada) cutting inside for the score, and pull McKendree's deficit to within three. Yet, Dominican rounded out the third quarter with two more that found the back of the net. Looking to make a comeback in the final period of regulation, Waardenburg caught a high pass and slotted it into the goal from her left hip and bring her squad to within four. With the Penguin defense holding strong while notching a goal in the stretch, Waardenburg once again scored with 1:17 left in the game, but it would not be enough to mount the comeback, as the Bearcats would fall in their non-conference finale, 8-12. Waardenburg, Barnden, and LaFrance each tabbed two goals on the day, while the former two each had dished a pair of assists to give them both four points. Three ground balls and two caused turnovers were combined between the trio. Macleod and Mullen were the other two Bearcats to get one to go inside the net, as Macleod also tallied a ground ball and a draw control. Junior goalkeeper Amber Hayden (Woburn, Mass.) guarded the posts for all 60:00 minutes of play, and recorded 12 saves, plus four ground balls. 

In the match against the Saints, Maryville struck first, a minute and four seconds into the game, but Waardenburg answered right back 26 seconds after with the Bearcats first goal to tie it up at one apiece. Yet the Saints reeled off five straight into the bars to close out the first quarter on a 6-1 edge. A short-distance goal by LaFrance via the feed by fellow sophomore Elle Garriock (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) shrank the opposing lead to four. After a two-goal spurt by the Saints, McKendree caught fire and drilled in four consecutive scores, with Waardenburg and LaFrance each snagging their second of the contest. However, Maryville responded by the same amount to turn their two-point lead to six at a 12-6 score heading into halftime. The two sides went back-and-forth for a few two-goal swings, with Waardenburg getting one more for a hat-trick and Barnden contributing one for herself. Still looming down by a sizable margin, Barnden and LaFrance initiated a 3-1 run in the midst of the fourth period, and cut their deficit to within seven, but it would not be enough, as the Saints wrapped the match up with three more shots to sail in and come away with the 21-11 win. LaFrance, Barnden, and Waardenburg, each finished with a hat-trick of three goals, with the former two each adding an assist. Mullen was the lone other Bearcat to score, as she tallied two goals in the setback on three shots overall and four on the goal. Hayden finished the day with 15 saves and two ground balls in the whole 60:00 minutes of action. It is her 12th time recording 15+ saves in her career. With her output, Hayden has crossed the 500-career saves plateau and has a current total of 507. 

WE STILL HERE 

Despite the pair of setbacks last week, McKendree has remained this week on the USA Lacrosse Division II Women's Top 20 poll under the "Also Considered" section, where they are one of five teams just outside the rankings. 

HISTORY SHOWCASE 

Against Lewis, this will be the 8th meeting all-time between the two in-state schools, and the 6th in the GLVC-era. McKendree currently holds the 5-2 edge in the series, but has dropped the previous two outings to the Flyers in the past two years, with both ending in overtime. Before that stretch, the Bearcats won the first five in the battle. 

Against UIndy, the dual will enter its 19th all-time matchup and 9th within the GLVC realm. The recent output has favored the Greyhounds immensely, as they came away victorious in each of the last 13 played and have not lost since May of 2017. The Bearcats did, however, start the series by winning their first five to have the historic game sit at 13-5 UIndy. 

KNOW THE FOES 

The Flyers have stood their ground since being picked one spot ahead of McKendree at fifth in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll, sitting at 6-4 overall and 0-1 in conference action. They have lost their conference opener in the last outing versus UIndy by a score of 2-23, but prior to that have won three straight and five of the last six. The only other time they have lost back-to-back games this season was in late February to Concordia University, St. Paul and Northern Michigan University. 

The Greyhounds have been [no pun intended] hounding their opposition day in and day out, as the number three team in the nation has put up an 8-1 record overall, while beating Lewis 23-2 in their GLVC opener. UIndy, which was picked second in the preseason poll behind Maryville University, has won seven straight. They opened up the season with a 10-6 win over the then-No.1 University of Tampa, before suffering their first setback against then-No.4 Florida Southern College by just one point. The Greyhounds will face Maryville in a marquee GLVC battle on Friday, April 10th before taking on the Bearcats. 

NCAA's TOP 25 (as of 4/6/26) 

McKENDREE 

Team: 

• Assists per game (15th – 7.7) 
• Ground balls per game (7th – 23.3) 
• Points per game (17th – 23.3) 
• Save percentage (3rd – 55.1%) 
• Scoring defense (22nd – 8.7) 
• Scoring margin (10th – +6.8) 
• Scoring offense (13th – 15.6) 
• Shot percentage (18th – 48.7%) 
• Shots per game (15th – 31.9) 
• Shots on goal per game (10th – 25.2) 
• Win percentage (21st – 72.7%) 

Individual: 

• Jayna Barnden –– free position goals per game (14th – 0.9), free position percentage (11th – 69.2%), goals per game (10th – 4.0), total points (14th – 61), points per game (6th – 6.1), shots per game (15th – 7.7), shots on goal per game (6th – 6.5) 
• Amber Hayden –– save percentage (5th – 53.8%), total saves (17th – 105), saves per game (5th – 11.7), shot percentage (1st – 100%) 
• Rylee Fox –– shot percentage (1st – 100%) 

LEWIS 

Team: 

N/A 

Individual: 

• Jade McKinnon –– goals per game (19th – 3.6), shots per game (16th – 7.6), shots on goal per game (18th – 5.5) 
• Sophia Fountain –– save percentage (21st – 45.8%), saves per game (25th – 8.8) 
• Sam Sandefur –– shot percentage (1st – 100%) 

INDIANAPOLIS 

Team: 

• Assists per game (8th – 8.4) 
• Clearing percentage (6th – 89.6%) 
• Draw control percentage (11th – 61.9%) 
• Draw controls per game (9th – 15.9) 
• Points per game (7th – 25.4) 
• Scoring defense (5th – 6.8) 
• Scoring margin (4th – +10.2) 
• Scoring offense (4th – 17.0) 
• Shot percentage (21st – 48.4%) 
• Shots on goal per game (1st – 27.7) 
• Turnovers per game (8th – 13.3) 
• Win percentage (5th – 88.9%) 

Individual 

• Olivia Bladon –– draw controls per game (17th – 5.9) 
• Ava Graham –– goals-against average (5th – 7.4) 
• Jenna Hirvonen –– shot percentage (1st – 100%) 

LOOKING AHEAD 

After the two-game road swing, McKendree will return back to the friendly confines of Leemon Field for the final time this season to take on Missouri Western State University on Friday, April 17th at 1:00 PM CT and then against Quincy University for Senior Day on Sunday, April 19th at 12:00 PM CT. 

Both games will be streamed live and on-demand on the GLVC Sports Network with a subscription/download purchase required. Live stats will also be made available to the public. 

TUNE IN-FO 

DATE	TIME (CT)	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	LIVE STATS	WATCH LIVE
4/10/26	5:30 PM	Lewis	McKendree	STATS	WATCH ($)
4/12/26	10:00 AM	Indianapolis	McKendree	STATS	WATCH ($)

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