Chicago, Illinois - Illinois Tech women's soccer finished their 2014 campaign with an 11-6 record, setting a new school record mark with 11 wins. The Scarlet Hawks fell short of their ultimate goal of competing at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Championships. All season they were ranked in the USCAA top 20 poll but couldn't crack the top 10 list of qualifiers. They did however finish amongst the top 7 teams for goals scored (7th), shots (6th), shots per game (6th), and goals against average (3rd).
The Hawks kicked off their season with a trip to New York where they coasted to a 2-0 record with wins over College of Staten Island 2-1, and John Jay College 7-0. A couple of key 3-0 home wins against Dominican and Anderson helped them to a 5-3 record at the end of September. They also went 5-3 through October, including two impressive wins against Midwest Conference opponents Carroll College and Ripon College both by scores of 1-0. Ripon later went on to the Midwest Conference Tournament Championship where they fell to the #10 NCAA DIII team in the nation, Lake Forest College. The Hawks enjoyed a good run at the end of the season winning 6 of their last 7 matches. Besides an early 4-2 loss to Albion in the beginning of September, the rest of their 5 losses were decided by 1 goal – three of those winning goals coming within the last two minutes of each respective match.
Sophomore Anida Phetchanpheng led the way on attack for the team, finishing the season with 13 goals and 4 assists. Senior midfielder Veronica Torres finished one point behind her with 10 goals and 9 assists. Torres was also named as a USCAA 2nd Team All-American for her efforts.
Giving up only 15 goals in 17 games, the back line of the Hawks was anchored by Junior Kristen Barrett, who also added 3 goals and 7 assists on the offensive side of the ball. Junior goalkeeper Roxanne Myers, also honored as a 2nd Team All-American, had a tremendous year in the net, finishing in the top 5 across all of the USCAA in goals against average (5th), save percentage (3rd), shutouts (3rd), and minutes played (3rd).
"Reflecting on the season, I can only be encouraged by the outcome," stated 2nd year head coach Ahmet Kose. "We didn't meet all of our goals but to go from being a 4 and 5-win program the previous two seasons to recording the most wins in our program's history is really remarkable. I'm really proud of our players for what they have accomplished and I am excited to see what is in store for us next season."