Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana rode a strong defensive effort to its second straight CCIW Tournament championship Saturday at Thorson-Lucken Field. Coach Meredith Newman's squad defeated Illinois Wesleyan 15-3 in the title game to improve to 17-2 on the year. The Titans dropped to 15-4 this season. The Vikings now await their NCAA Divivison III Tournament assignment, which will be announced Sunday (May 8) night.
 
IWU started strong, scoring goals on their first two shots of the game. A Lauren Pavich goal gave the Titans the lead less than a minute in. After Olivia Mayer (Libertyville HS, Green Oaks, Ill.) answered for Augustana, Noelle Letourneau scored at 26:57 of the first half to put the visitors up 2-1.
 
Newman's crew responded with the final seven goals of the half. Senior Shelby Cosman (Marian Catholic HS, St. John, Ind.) converted an Emily Handrahn (Lake Zurich HS, Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) assist for the tying goal at the 23:38 mark and Handrahan scored off an Anne Hopkins (Mother McAuley HS, Chicago, Ill.) assist two minutes later to put the hosts ahead for good.
 
Senior Kaylee Nolan (Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.) scored and classmate Kendall Maduro (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.) added a pair of goals to push the Viking lead to 6-2 midway through the first half. A short-handed goal by Hopkins and a tally by Handrahan closed out the first half scoring, as Augustana took an 8-2 lead to halftime.
 
Mayer, Cosman and Hopkins scored in the first eight minutes of the second half to extend the Vikings' string of goals to 10 straight. Sara Dust snapped a Titan scoring drought of nearly 37 minutes with a goal at the 20:11 mark that made it 11-3, but Nolan scored with 19:14 to play and a Cosman goal with 18 minutes left triggered the running clock. Goals by Cosman and freshman Christina McCabe (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) rounded out the afternoon's scoring.
 
Defenders Kaitlin Hightower (Providence HS, Mathews, N.C.), Nellie Bubb (Holy Family HS, Excelsior, Minn.) and Hanna Gobeille (Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.) helped stifle IWU. The Titans got off just nine shots and scored just one goal over the final 56:57 of play and converted just six of 21 clear attempts in the game. Sophomore Analia Fowler (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.) went the first half in goal, recording three saves. Senior Jenna Hofmann (Columbine HS, Littleton, Colo.) relieved her after halftime and stopped four shots.
 
Handrahan paced the offense with two goals and five assists. Cosman scored a team-high four goals and Hopkins found the net twice and dished out three assists. Mayer had a game-high four ground balls and shared game high honors in caused turnovers (three each) with Maduro and Nolan.
 
Augustana finished with advantages of 36-11 in shots and 25-17 in ground balls. IWU controlled 11 of 20 draws, but committed 29 turnovers to 15 for the Vikings.