By Jami Sponaugle

Chicago, Ill. - At Stuart Field on Saturday, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks women's lacrosse team welcomed the Marian University Sabres for a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) contest. 

A game that started out in favor of the Hawks (2-9, 0-3) turned into a back-and-forth battle as the Sabres (6-7, 1-3) fought their way back from a 4-1 first quarter lead by the Hawks. 

By the final horn, the Sabres defeated the Hawks 17-16. 

First Quarter (Marian 1 - Illinois Tech 4)

• The first goal of the contest came at 12:41 in the first quarter in favor of the Hawks as Kelly Hitchcock scored an unassisted goal.

• A few minutes later, the Hawks Judai Smith scored from a Hitchcock assist. Hitchcock made her way down the field and was able to find a wide open Smith. Smith immediately fired off a shot upon receiving it to put the Hawks ahead 2-0. 

• Faith Busche then followed with an unassisted goal at 5:46.

• Marian's Izzy Newton scored the Sabres first of the game at the 4:35 mark. 

• 33 seconds later, Hitchcock scored her second of the game and the final goal of the quarter on an unassisted play to put the Hawks up 4-1. 

Second Quarter (Marian 7 - Illinois Tech 4)

• Busche opened up the second quarter with another unassisted goal at the 14:16 mark. 

• Two goals then came in favor of the Sabres at 10:19 and 8:37. Here, the Hawks led the Sabres 5-3.

• Smith scored her second goal of the game at the 8:12 mark.

• Then, between 6:43 and 3:38, the Sabres put up three goals to tie the game at 6-6. 

• Hitchcock put the Hawks back ahead at 3:06 off a Busche assist. Busche saw Hitchcock making a run in front of the goal and was able to send the ball in so Hitchcock could receive it and score with a shot to the inside of the goalkeeper. 

• The Sabres tied the game at 7-7 with 2:17 on the clock. 

• With 56 seconds left, Aluson Yurchak scored her first of the game off a Busche assist. 

• Then, on a free position attempt, the Sabres scored with 7 seconds remaining in the half to tie the game at 8-8.

Third Quarter (Marian 4  - Illinois Tech 5)

• Lucy Kegley joined in on the Hawks goal scoring to start the third quarter. Kegley scored at the 14:46 mark off a Hitchcock assist.

• The Hawks then went up 10-8 after Busche scored on a free position attempt at 14:22.

• Back-to-back goals from the Sabres would tie the game back up, this time at 10-10 with 12:21 remaining in the quarter. 

• From there, every time the Hawks scored the Sabres were there to answek. Hitchcock put the Hawks up 11-10 with an unassisted goal at 11:17 before the Sabres scored at 9:07 to tie the game at 11-11.

• Then, at 8:58, Hitchcock would score another unassisted goal before the Sabres scored one minute later to tie the game at 12-12. 

• Smith was able to put the Hawks ahead at the end of the quarter with an unassisted goal at the 2:23 mark. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Hawks led the Sabres 13-12. 

Fourth Quarter (Marian 5 - Illinois Tech 3)

• Yurchak put the Hawks up 14-12 to begin the fourth quarter with an unassisted goal at 13:52. 

• The Sabres then went on a four goal run between 12:53 and 6:16 to tie the game and ultimately take the lead over the Hawks. At 6:16 the Sabres led the Hawks 16-14.

• Smith made it a one-goal game at 4:01 with an unassisted goal.

• The Sabres last goal came at the 3:53 mark. 

• The Hawks would attempt to even the match again, scoring with 1:42 remaining with a goal by Yurchak, assisted by Busche, but would ultimately come up short as they fell to the Sabres 17-16.  

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Kelly Hitchcock scored 5 of the hawks goals and picked up 2 assists. Hitchcock finished with 8 shots, 6 on frame, 5 ground balls, 14 draw controls, and 1 caused turnover.

• Judai Smith followed with 4 goals. Smith totaled 7 shots, 4 on goal, 1 draw control, and 1 caused turnover.

• Faith Busche secured a hat-trick and 3 assists. Busche finished with 10 shots, 6 on goal, 4 ground balls, 5 draw controls, and 3 caused turnovers. 

• Alison Yurchak also scored a hat-trick. Yurchak ended with 5 shots, 4 on goal, and 5 ground balls. 

Sabres Standouts

• Dallas Kreisa led the Sabres in goals, scoring 6 times. Kreisa finished with 10 shots, 9 on goal, 1 assist, 2 ground balls, and 5 draw controls. 

• Kayla Kolpitcke finished with 4 goals and 1 assist. Kolpitacke had 8 shots, 7 on goal, 5 ground balls, 2 draw controls, and 3 caused turnovers. 

• Emma Heide scored a hat-trick for the Sabres. Heide tallied 7 shots, 5 on goal, 5 ground balls, and 1 draw control

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks finished with 34 shots, 22 on goal. The Sabres had 40 shots, 32 on goal.

• The Haws edged the Sabres 29-to-28 in ground balls. 

• In turnovers, the Hawks had 27 while the Sabres had 16. 

• The Sabres were 18-of-21 in clears while the Hawks were 11-of-14. 

• 24 of the 36 draw controls were won by the Hawks. 

Up Next

Back in action on Stuart Field, the Hawks welcome Concordia University Chicago (3-7, 2-1) on Wednesday for more NACC action.