by Eric Willuweit

Marshall, Mo. - Kelly Hitchcock scored six goals, Faith Busche added five goals, and the Illinois Tech women's lacrosse team used a ten-goal first quarter to power their way to their first victory of the 2023 season, defeating Missouri Valley College 18-2 Wednesday night in a non-conference road match. The Scarlet Hawks improved their record to 1-4. The Vikings fell to 0-5.

The Scarlet Hawks scored two goals in the opening minute of the match and six goals in the first six minutes to take command of the game, and the Vikings could never recover. The Hawks were aided by a 21-2 advantage in draw controls. The Hawks closed out their mini spring break trip with a 1-1 record, but scored 30 goals over the two matches to help ignite their offensive attack.

First Quarter (Illinois Tech 10 - Missouri Valley 0)

Hitchcock opened the scoring for the Scarlet Hawks with a goal 25 seconds into the match, on a feed from Alison Yurchak. After a draw control victory, Yurchak followed with another Hawks tally 17 seconds later to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Hitchcock and Yurchak would each score two more goals in the opening frame, and Mya Huddleston scored her first career goal midway through the period to help the Scarlet Hawks lead 10-0 at the end of one quarter.

Second Quarter (Illinois Tech 2 - Missouri Valley 1)

The second quarter provided less offensive fireworks than the opening quarter, but the Scarlet Hawks were still able to get another early-period goal to start the scoring, with Hitchcock scoring two minutes into the period. The Vikings were finaly able to get on the board at the 5:25 mark when Alena Blachowksi scored an unassisted tally while the team was playing a player down to cut their deficit to 11-1. Lucy Jorjorian would score two and a half minutes later for the Hawks to head into halftime with a 12-1 lead.

Third Quarter (Illinois Tech 3 - Missouri Valley 0)

The Scarlet Hawks would continue the trend of early-period goals into the third quarter, when Busche took a feed from Huddleston and scored at the 12:36 mark to extend the Hawks lead to 13-1. Hitchcock would add a pair of tallies to close out the scoring in the third quarter with the Scarlet Hawks leading 15-1.

Fourth Quarter (Illinois Tech 3 - Missouri Valley 1)

First-year attacker Iona Pettigrew tallied her first career collegiate goal at the 11:38 mark of the final quarter to push the Scarlet Hawks lead to 16-1. After an unassisted goal by the Viking's Alexis Lark at 8:52, Busche completed the scoring in the match with a pair of goals over the final 90 seconds to secure the 18-2 Scarlet Hawks victory.

Scarlet Hawks Standouts

• Hitchcock with 6 goals on 10 shots, to go along with 2 assists. Hitchcock also had 10 draw controls, recovered 2 ground balls and caused 2 turnovers.
• Busche with 5 goals on 8 shots, 2 assists, 2 ground balls, 5 draw controls and paced the team with 4 caused turnovers.
• Yurchak with 3 goals on 4 shots, 2 assists, and 3 ground balls.
• Lucy Jorjorian added 2 goals and 3 assists, 3 draw controls and 2 caused turnovers.
• Huddleston with her first collegiate goal, while also providing two assists.
• Caitlin Davitt stopped 4 of 6 shots she faced in goal.

Inside The Box Score

• Illinois Tech outshot Missouri Valley 32-12.
• Draw controls favored the Scarlet Hawks 21-2.
• Illinois Tech had 6 fouls to 2 for Missouri Valley.
• The Scarlet Hawks scored on their only free-position attempt(Busche - 11:38 1st quarter); the Vikings were 0-3.

Up Next 

The Scarlet Hawks go back on the road next Wednesday, March 22nd, when they travel to Kenosha, Wisc. to take on Carthage College at 6:00 PM CT in another non-conference matchup.