ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's women's lacrosse team battled McKendree but came up short in a 16-9 loss on Thursday afternoon at Lewis Stadium. The Flyers drop to 4-7, 2-4 GLVC while the Bearcats move to 9-2, 4-1 GLVC.

Lewis scored the first goal of the contest as Skylar Lucich (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) scored 2:43 into the contest for her 12th goal of the season with an assist from Paige Zahler (Verona, Wis./Verona).

McKendree countered scoring five times in a span of 8:30 minutes to take a 5-1 lead. Rylee Skachenko scored four of those goals for the Bearcats.

The Flyers got back-to-back goals from Zahler and Alyson Jines (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley High School) to cut the McKendree lead to 5-3 but were unable to get any closer as the Bearcats scored four of the final five goals of the first 30 minutes to take a 9-4 lead into halftime.

McKendree continued its run in the first 12-plus minutes of the second half scoring five of the first six goals to grab its largest lead of the contest at 14-5 on Sarah Hardin's third goal of the contest.

Lewis fought back scoring four straight goals to get within five as Paige Bracey (Apex, N.C./Apex) scored twice in that run while Meltonique Bowen (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Flanagan) and Lindsey Traub (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard High School) had a goal apiece.

The Bearcats got back-to-back goals from Skachenko in the span of 0:23 to take a 16-9 lead.

Bracey led the Flyers with three goals while Zahler had two goals and two assists. Brigid Fornek (Lawrenceville, Ga./Grayson) made 11 saves and scooped up eight ground balls in the contest. Bowen scooped up six ground balls and won five draw controls.

Lewis was outshot in the contest 37-26 including 27-16 in shots on goal. Each team won 13 draw controls while McKendree had 30-26 advantage in ground balls.

The Flyers play their final game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon as they travel down to St. Charles, Mo., to take on second ranked Lindenwood at 1 p.m. at Hunter Stadium.