CHICAGO, Ill. - The Illinois Tech women's soccer team was handed its first loss of the season on Monday night at the hands of the North Park University Vikings. Despite outshooing the hosts and maintaining possession for a large portion of the match, Tech (9-1-1) fell behind two goals and ran out of time mounting a comback, dropping the non-conference match to North Park (4-5-1) 3-2.

How it Happened

• After each goalkeeper saved the first shot they saw, North Park's Sam Moreno scored her 11th goal of the season by going top-shelf, giving North Park a 1-0 advantage 16:54 into the match.
• One of the match's most influential stretches came between 28:18 and 32:40. Over a less than four minute span, the Scarlet Hawks had four shots on net saved by Viking netminder Theresa Weiss, one of which was a highlight-reel diving stop. After finally gathering possession, North Park's Nikolet Baxevanakis scored on a Emica Quigley assist at the 32:40 mark.
• Tech's Katie Hoefgen tallied her 12th goal of the match on a breakaway, taking a pass from Caeli Kennedy just before halftime to cut the lead in half.
• The Scarlet Hawks came out firing, taking five shots over the first 15 minutes of the second half. 
• It would be NPU, however, to score first in the second half, with Clara Wernbo giving the Vikings a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes to play.
• With less than eight minutes to go, it was Hoefgen again who found the back of the net. This time, it was Madison Harris feeding her on a breakaway.
• Hoefgen had another shot attempt saved by Weiss in the 85th minute. With 40 seconds left to play, Tech had one final chance with a Julia Taliana corner kick. However, the Vikings defense held strong to preserve the result.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Hoefgen took seven shots (six on goal) for her two goals.
• Kennedy had an assist and three shots (one on net).
• Harris had an assist.

Stats to Know

• North Park's Weiss stood tall with nine saves.
• The Scarlet Hawks outshot the Vikings 17-15 overall and 11-10 on net.

Up Next

• Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play resumes on Wednesday when the Scarlet Hawks travel to Concordia University Chicago for a 4:00 p.m. match.