Watertown, Wisconsin – Veronica Torres knotted two goals and two assists as the Illinois Tech women's soccer team enjoyed a much deserved road win over Maranatha Baptist University 6-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Starting a bit slow after the long bus ride, the Scarlet Hawks finally got going in the 30th minute as Lorena Costa found her way in behind the back line and was fouled by a Maranatha defender inside the box. Torres stepped up to take the penalty kick and clinically found the right side-netting for the 1-0 lead. The Hawks would take advantage of two more opportunities before the halftime whistle. In the 42nd minute, Torres played a long diagonal ball to Anida Phetchanpheng who put away the chance with her first touch past the rushing keeper. Less than two minutes later, Torres dribbled past three Sabercat defenders down the left side of the field and tucked away her sixth goal of the year to head into the half with a 3-0 advantage.
The second half brought more of the same as the Hawks found the back of the net again just over two minutes into the half. Costa received a feed from Torres for a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper and slid it into the bottom right corner of the net. Costa would then add her second goal of the game and ninth of the season with a blast from about 25 yards in the 69th minute.
Phetchanpheng put the finishing touches on the match just three minutes later. It would be her ninth goal of the season and probably her most memorable. A corner kick from Kristen Barrett found Phetchanpheng's perfectly timed run and she put an unstoppable header into the upper corner.
The back line for the Hawks kept their 5th clean sheet of the year only allowing five shots on goal the entire match.
Illinois Tech improves to 6-5 on the year and will host Carroll University on Tuesday night at 7 PM.