Chicago, Illinois - The Illinois Tech Women's Lacrosse team came out of the gates on fire yesterday afternoon against the Loras College DuHawks. After trading goals in the first five minutes, Loras briefly saw their only lead of the game at the 8 minute mark. Freshman midfielder Cassandra Reineke tied the game with 17:43  left in the first half and it was all Scarlet Hawks after that. The Scarlet Hawks scored four unanswered goals for the rest of the half behind a stingy defense led by Junior goalkeeper Briana Villagrana who finished the day with 14 saves on 22 shots. Assistant Coach Jessica Morgan attributed the steller first half to the domination at the draw circle.

 

The second half started out quickly for the Hawks as well with Reineke scoring her fourth goal of the game a minute thirty into the half and Izzy Fitzpatrick scoring her first goal of the game and seventh of the season three minutes in. Loras College stepped up their game the rest of the second half, making the Scarlet Hawk faithful nervous in the stands as the DuHawks crept back within one goal with just over three minutes left in the game. The Scarlet Hawk defense stayed tough and was able to stop the unrelenting pressure of the Loras offense. Coach Kirk Lamitie stated, "we played a complete team game today. Everyone contributed to this win and supported each other throughout the game. Not once did we give up."

This win marks the first conference win in school history and brings the Scarlet Hawks to 3-8 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. The Scarlet Hawks will take on Benedictine University Wednesday night at 7pm on Stuart Field.