BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Elmhurst University men's lacrosse team opened up their 2023 campaign with a 17-13 win over Birmingham Southern College at Tucci Stadium on the Illinois Wesleyan University campus.  

The Bluejays (1-0) came out strong with a goal by Eli Spence in the first nine seconds of the game. The Panthers responded with 11:29 left to play in the opening quarter with a goal by Cameron Herd. Elmhurst rattled off three consecutive goals in a near four-minute span to take a 4-1 lead with 6:42 remaining in the first.

Austin Johnson netted back-to-back goals for Birmingham Southern to put his team within one at the end of the first period.

Spence started the scoring off for the Bluejays once again in the second quarter with his third goal of the contest at the 13:08 mark. Herd tallied his second goal of the game three minutes later to keep the Elmhurst lead to just one.

Jake Grebe scored two goals in less than a minute to extend the Bluejay lead to 7-4. Spence and Sante Dybowski got in on the scoring action with one goal apiece in the second. The Panthers scored twice more before the break to head into the locker room down three.

Birmingham Southern (3-1) outscored Elmhurst in the third quarter, 3-2 with two goals by Herd and one by Reid Harrison. The Bluejays two goals came from Kaden Ames.

Elmhurst outscored the Panthers 6-4 in the final period in route to its first victory of the season.

The Bluejays were led by Spence with nine points featuring six goals and three assists. Grebe added in three goals and three assists, while Ames opened up his collegiate career with four goals and two assists. Tony Vazquez won 24-of-30 faceoffs and picked up a game-high 18 ground balls.

Birmingham Southern was led by Herd with four goals, while Robert Marquet chipped in three points off of three assists. Harrison scored two goals and tallied one assist, while teammate Johnson added in three goals. Nathan Pepe picked up a team-high six ground balls in the loss.

Noah Mickelson earned the win in goal with 15 saves for Elmhurst, while Pepe collected nine saves for the Panthers in the loss.

The Bluejays travel to Holland, Mich. to take on Hope College on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1:00 p.m.