DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Elmhurst women's lacrosse team rallied from a seven-goal deficit, but came up just short, falling to the University of Dubuque 11-9.
 
Elmhurst dropped to 6-6 overall and 0-2 in the CCIW with the loss while Dubuque upped its record to 9-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.
 
The Spartans started strong, scoring the game's first seven goals before Elmhurst got on the scoreboard. Jaclyn Franklin put Dubuque on the board just four minutes into the contest. Elisa Thode cored 2:30 later to make the score 2-0. Three goals from Bridget Schirmers and a pair of scores from Breann Tjaarda gave Dubuque a 7-0 lead with 6:04 left in the opening half.
 

Elmhurst's offense came to life in the closing minutes of the opening half. Phoebe LeRoy scored with 4:01 left and Nikki Togami added a goal just 1:35 late. Meghan Keyes tallied a goal with 1:50 remaining, and LeRoy tallied her second score of the game with 19 seconds remaining to make the score 7-4 at the half.
 
Keyes scored less than two minutes into the second half and LeRoy scored from free position two minutes later to bring Elmhurst to within a goal.
 
Dubuque answered Elmhurst's 6-0 run with three straight goals to open up a 10-6 lead. After the two squads traded goals, Elmhurst scored twice in the final 10 minutes to make the final score 11-9.
 
Dubuque outshot Elmhurst 27-19 in the contest and had a 27-22 edge in ground balls. The Spartans also won 14 of the 23 draw controls.  Elmhurst struggled from free position, converting just 1-of-8 attempts.
 
LeRoy powered Elmhurst's offense in the loss with five points, scoring four goals and dishing out an assist. Keyes added four points on three goals and an assist while Togami added a pair of goals for the Bluejays. Grace Knoebel suffered the loss in goal for Elmhurst, recording eight saves and a pair of ground balls.
 
Schirmers led Dubuque with four goals and an assist while Robyn Wittkopf tallied four points on a goal and three assists. Tjaarda added two goals and an assist for the Spartans. Chelsea Hawkins earned the win in goal, finishing with five saves in the win.
 
Elmhurst travels to Augustana College on Saturday, April 18.