By Jami Sponaugle

Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks wrapped up their four game homestand on Sunday during a rainy game when they defeated the Ripon College Red Hawks 4-0 on Stuart Field. All four of the Hawks goals came within the first 30 minutes of the match. 

How It Happened

• It took the Scarlet Hawks just 7 minutes, 25 seconds to get on the board against the Red Hawks. The play happened when the Scarlet Hawks were able to produce a deep ball across the box to Zaheed Al-Hajji who headed it toward the net. The shot was initially saved by the Red Hawks goalkeeper before he lost control of it. Maciek Matusiak was able to pounce on the loose ball to poke it into the back of the net to give the Scarlet Hawks a 1-0 lead. 

• The lead grew just over two minutes later when Josh Plimpton scored from an Al-Hajji assist. Al-Hajji drove the ball down the 18-yard box before cutting back to split his defenders to pass the ball to a defenderless Plimpton who took a one-touch shot into the lower right hand corner to improve the Scarlet Hawk lead to 2-0.

• In the downpouring rain, Michael Kaczowka got his name on the board with the Scarlet Hawks third goal. Kaczowka received a bouncing ball inside the 18-yard box with a defender on his back. He then flipped the ball both over his and the defenders head, took a touch to beat an oncoming Red Hawk defender, then sent the bouncing ball right past the diving goalkeeper into the center of the goal. 

• The Scarlet Hawks rounded out their scoring in the 29th minute of action off a Mateo Sanchez goal and a Younghoon Jung assist. Winning a loose ball, Jung beat the oncoming Red Hawk defender to get into open space before passing the ball of to Sanchez. Sanchez took one touch to throw off his defender to create space for himself before striking a shot outside the 18-yard box into the opposite upper corner to make it a 4-0 game. 

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Sanchez, Plimpton, and Kaczowka each ended the game with two shots and one goal.

• Matusiak netted his only shot of the game.

• Inside the net, Marko Brajkovic and Adam Falcigno recorded a combined shutout as the Scarlet Hawks allowed zero goals and were forced to make just one save during the second half. 

Inside the Box Score

• The Scarlet Hawks concluded the 90 minutes of play with 18 shots, 10 of which were on goal. 

• 13 different Scarlet Hawks took their chances at finding the back of the net. 

• The Red Hawks committed 17 fouls while the Scarlet Hawks committed 8. 

Up Next

• The Scarlet Hawks now find themselves on the road for their next two matches. They make their way to River Forest, Illinois to take on the Dominican University Stars in the opening Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) match-up. Kick-off between the Scarlet Hawks and Stars is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.