CHICAGO—The 2020 inaugural season was in full swing for the Illinois Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team (1-1, 1-1 MLC) before COVID-19 brought things to a screeching halt after a pair of home games against Northwestern (Minn.) (21-7 loss) and Beloit (15-5 win). Finding the win column is something most first-year programs fail to achieve, but the Scarlet Hawks accomplished that feat in just their second contest when they thrashed Beloit 15-5. 

"It was obviously not the type of season or ending we were anticipating when we started but there was definitely some promise and bright spots in a short period of time," said Illinois Tech head men's lacrosse coach Dan Sharbaugh. "The improvement the guys showed from game one, to game two was undeniable and bodes well for the future of this program moving forward.  We're looking forward to taking the lessons we learned from the highs and lows of the shortened season to help move forward and progress into the coming seasons." 

Many Illinois Tech players entrenched their names into the school record book for eternity after they achieved program firsts. Reed Tangeman, who scored the program's first ever goal against Northwestern (Minn.), highlights that list.

First Goal in Program History

Program Firsts

Penalty - Cornelio Estrella (Push/0:30) (Northwestern)

Faceoff Win - Jeremy Cohen (Northwestern)

Shot - Aidan Gans (Northwestern)

Ground Ball - Aidan Gans (Northwestern)

Caused Turnover - Christopher Stone (Northwestern)

Save - Jack Coyle (Northwestern)

Assist - Aidan Gans (Beloit)

The Scarlet Hawks will transition to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) in 2021 and are set to return a roster that consisted of 20 freshmen. Freshman Aidan Gans paced the team in scoring with five goals and one assist for six points. Freshman Christopher Stone led the face-off efforts with a 19-of-32 figure along with a team-best six ground balls. All four goalies on the Scarlet Hawks roster saw playing time, and accumulated a 13.05 goals against average and a .544 save percentage. 

"We're definitely missing the guys and spending time with them everyday, but will not take those moments for granted moving forward and can't wait to get back on the field in the fall," said Sharbaugh.