When Rhodes College stumbled upon the goal first, DePauw got hit with a wake up call.
"After they scored that first goal, it lit a fire under us, and rekindled our desire to beat Rhodes even more," senior Caroline Torie said.
Rhodes struggled to put out the flame as the Tigers' intensity lasted the rest of the game.
DePauw traveled Saturday afternoon to St. Louis to play Rhodes (1-2) where the team found itself down 1-0 in the first fifteen minutes. The Tigers came back to score two goals in each half to walk off the field with a 4-1 victory.
The game got off to a slow start for DePauw when Rhodes scored and went unanswered until a little more than 10 minutes later when junior Chelsea Cutler found the net assisted by senior Margaret Ellis. Ellis and Cutler teamed up again with 2:20 left in the game, this time Cutler setting up Ellis to score.
"We were creating opportunities on offense, but not doing a great job moving the goalkeeper at the beginning of the game," head coach Gina Wills said in an email. "We had one breakdown on defense, which resulted in the goal."
The Tigers' mid fielders hustled back with the defense to beat Rhodes to the ball. That effort protected DePauw's goal from the Lynx for the duration of game. The Tigers recovered the ball effectively spreading out Rhode's offense and clearing the ball up the field with long passes.
In the second half, senior Bridgette Shamleffer scored unassisted and Ellis hit an open shot with the assist by Paige Henry less than a minute later to end the game.
In this week of practice, Torie said the team plans to work on their corner shot percentage after the Tigers scored twice off corners.
"The team took big step this weekend, taking advantage of corner shots is one of our goals this season and was the highlight of the game," Wills said.
She also said this was a quality win for the team as Rhodes has made it to the NCAA Div. III tournament the past two years. DePauw is now 3-1 on the season heading back into the NCAC play for their next game.
The Tigers travel to Oberlin College (1-1) on Saturday starting at 11 a.m.