By Jami Sponaugle

Chicago, Ill. - Concluding their 2022 season, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawk men's soccer team tied 1-1 with the Rockford University Regents. Christian Garcia capitalized on an initially saved penalty kick to put the Hawks on the board in the second half. 

How It Happened

• A foul inside the 18-yard box resulted in a penalty kick for the Hawks in the 52nd minute. Anthony Paiotti stepped up to take the kick for the Hawks. Paiotti's aimed his shot towards the bottom left corner, but it was saved by the Regents goalkeeper Gustavo Lazcano. Lazcano's initial save pushed the ball back into the 18-yard box to where C. Garcia was awaiting. C. Garcia was able to run onto the ball and take a left-footed, one-touch shot, ripping the ball over Lazcano's hands and below the crossbar to give the Hawks their ultimate 1-0 victory. 

• After winning the ball at half field, the Regents tied up the game 1-1 in the 88th minute with a goal by Javier Palacios, assisted by Brian Daniels. Daniels won the ball from the Hawks at half field and quickly dribbled his way into the Hawks defensive half before passing the ball off to Palacios. Palacios took a settling touch, and then a set up touch before striking a shot from deep outside the 18-yard box and into the lower right corner for the game tying goal. 

Scarlet Hawk Standouts 

• C. Garcia scored the only Hawk goal of the match. C. Garcia led the Hawks during the game with 4 shots, 3 on goal.

• David de la Fuente and Mateo Sanchez followed with three shots during the contest. Both had one shot recorded on frame. 

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks outshot the Regents 18-9 in general and 9-4 in shots on goal.

• Rockford tallied 8 saves compared to Illinois Tech's 3.

• The Regents held a 5-4 corner kick advantage.

• 16 fouls total were recorded throughout the match between the two sides. 

2022 Recap

With the tie, the Hawks finished the 2022 season with a 10-8-1 overall record and a 4-7-1 Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) record. 

Throughout the season on the field, Michael Kaczowka led the Hawks in goals and assists, ending with 12 goals and 6 assists. Maciek Matusiak followed in goals with 6 and contributed 3 assists. Paiotti and Josh Plimpton tied in goals and assists, with both recording 5 goals and 4 assists. Jordan Plewa, Mateo Sanchez, and Devin Zakeri all provided 2 goals during the season. Zakeri added one assist. Rounding out the goalscoring for the season was: Zaheed Al-Hajji, C. Garcia, Logan Garcia, Matthew Gombar, Younghoon Jung, and Matthew Watson, who all scored one goal apiece. Al-Hajji provided 3 assists while L. Garcia and Jung provided 2. Caleb Terronez, Ziyad Yacoubou and David de la Fuente all recorded one assist for the Hawks in 2022. 

Sharing time on the net throughout the year was Marko Brajkovic and Adam Falcigno. Brajkovic finished the year with 8 appearances and 4 starts. During his time in goal he made 18 saves, recorded 3 wins, and had one shutout. Falcigno ended with 18 appearances, 15 starts. He tallied 70 saves and finished with 7 wins and 3 shutouts. 

Congratulations to the Hawks 10 seniors for their careers as Scarlet Hawks and their contributions to Illinois Tech both on and off the field: de la Fuente, Gombar, Colin Harris, Jung, Paiotti, Plewa, Plimpton, Terronez, Yacoubou, and Nikhil Youssef. 

The Scarlet Hawks men's soccer team will return back to action in 2023.