KENOSHA, Wis. – The Elmhurst women's lacrosse team secured the final spot in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament despite dropping its regular-season finale 16-6 at Carthage College.
 
Elmhurst finished the regular season with a 9-8 overall record and a 2-4 mark in the CCIW in its inaugural season. The Bluejays finished in a three-way tie with Illinois Wesleyan and Dubuque for the fourth and final spot in the CCIW Tournament, but Elmhurst earned the tiebreaker based on goal differential in league play.
 
Elmhurst grabbed an early 2-1 lead against Carthage(11-5, 5-1 CCIW) after goals from Meghan Keyes and Phoebe LeRoy in less than a minute.
 
Carthage answered back with five straight goals, including three from Mackenzie Day, to surge in front and build a 6-2 lead. The two squads traded goals over the next nine minutes with Carthage owning an 8-4 lead Day tallied her fourth goal of the half with just four seconds remaining to give the Lady Reds a 9-4 cushion at halftime.
 
Carthage scored back-to-back goals to open the second half before LeRoy netter her fourth goal of the game to make the score 11-5. Goals from Elizabeth Wittenborg and Madison Griffin put Carthage in front 13-5 with 5:23 remaining. Keyes tallied her second goal of the game for the Bluejays with 4:25 left, but Carthage scored three times in the final 4:07 to pull away for the 16-6 win.
 
Carthage outshot Elmhurst 37-13 and had a 33-16 edge in ground balls Turnovers plagued the Bluejays as Elmhurst gave the ball away 24 times and completed only 11-of-21 clear attempts.
 
LeRoy and Keyes accounted for every point for the Bluejays. LeRoy tallied four goals and three ground  balls while Keyes totaled four points on two goals and two assists. Grace Knoebel took the loss in net, recording 10 saves and six ground balls.
 
Day paced Carthage's attack with five goals and an assist while Wittenborg totaled seven points on three goals and four assists. Hanna Bellenbaum added three goals for Carthage.  Taylor Sopron earned the win in goal for Carthage, allowing five goals while recording four saves.
Elmhurst will travel to top-seeded Augustana College in the first-round of the CCIW Tournament on Wednesday, April  29.