PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse team jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led 7-2 after the first period here Thursday afternoon, but could not withstand a strong McKendree rally as the ThunderWolves fell 17-7 to the Bearcats in a non-conference game at the Art & Lorraine Gonzales Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.

Thursday's loss was the third straight for the Pack as they fell to 2-3 overall on the season, while McKendree improved to 6-1 on the season. The Pack opened the 2026 season with two straight wins.

The ThunderWolves opened the game with an explosive first period, scoring seven of the first nine goals to take a 7-2 advantage after the opening period. Freshman attacker Hillary Grehan (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Murdoch MacKay Collegiate) started the scoring with a man-up goal nearly 90 seconds into the game, and after freshman attacker Chloe Mora (Newport Beach, Calif./Orange Lutheran) scored an unassisted goal with 11:42 left, sophomore midfielder Sydney Gunnels (Dallas, Texas/Coppell) followed with a pair of goals to give the Pack a 4-0 lead just a little over five minutes into the contest.

Freshman midfielder Ainsley Jackson (Anaheim, Calif./Canyon) scored an unassisted goal with 7:14 left in the period to give the Pack a 5-0 lead. About two-and-a-half minutes later, redshirt freshman midfielder Alexandria Bennett (Corona, Calif./Concordia-Irvine) added a man-up goal off an assist from sophomore attacker Emily Doane (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) to give the Pack a 6-0 lead.

McKendree would finally score with 3:14 left in the opening period on an unassisted goal by Elle Garriock to cut the Pack's lead to 6-1. Gunnels would add her third goal of the game, this time off a free position shot, to give the Pack a 7-1 lead with 1:53 left in the period. Ironically, Gunnels' goal would be the final one of the game for the Pack.

The Bearcats, who went 3-0 on their spring break trip to Colorado, pulled within 7-2 on a goal by Jayna Barnden with 1:02 left in the period.

Gunnels finished the game with three goals and an assist, while redshirt freshman midfielder Sienna Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley) had two assists in Thursday's game.

The Bearcats would score six goals in the second period to take an 8-7 lead at the half and then tallied five goals in the third period to push out to a 13-7 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes of play. In the fourth period, McKendree added four goals to its tally to cap the scoring.

Barnden paced McKendree with seven goals and an assist, while Sofia Mullen added three goals and Lexi Macleod had two goals and an assist. Eight different Bearcats scored goals in the win.

The Pack finished with 26 shots in the contest and collected 28 ground balls as Jackson and freshman defender Maelynn Saucedo (Eastvale, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt) each led the ThunderWolves with four ground balls, while Rinn and Jackson combined for five draw controls.

Junior Breonna Mason (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) made her season debut in goal for the Pack. She recorded seven saves and three ground balls in 52-plus minutes in goal, before freshman Hannah Duffee (Bayport, Minn./St. Croix Preparatory Academy) had two saves in seven-plus minutes of action.

Amber Hayden played all 60 minutes in goal for the Bearcats and had 10 saves and three ground balls.

McKendree held a 29-26 edge in shots and a 32-28 advantage in ground balls and won the draw control battle, 17-10.

The Bearcats had 24 turnovers, and the Pack was credited with 16 caused turnovers, including four from Saucedo and three from junior defender Dylan Retzloff (Bend, Ore./Mountain View). CSU Pueblo had 22 turnovers as McKendree had 10 caused turnovers.

McKendree was 19-for-26 on clears and 2-for-6 on free position shots, while the Pack was 18-for-28 on clears and just 1-for-8 on free position shots.

The Pack will look to get back on track this coming Saturday, March 14, as they open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 1 p.m. game in Durango, Colo., against Fort Lewis College.