by Eric Willuweit
Beloit, Wis. - A short-handed Illinois Tech women's lacrosse traveled to Beloit, Wisconsin looking for their first conference victory. The Scarlet Hawks put up a valiant effort, but playing one player short for the entirety of the match due to injury ultimately was too much to overcome, as the host Buccaneers pulled away in the final quarter for a 16-9 victory. The Scarlet Hawks dropped to 0-5 in NACC play, and 2-11 overall. The Buccaneers improved to 1-3 in conference and 3-6 overall.
Beloit's Johanna McNair scored a school-record nine goals and 14 points in the match, adding five assists to her day, while pacing the Buccaneers with five ground ball recoveries. The Scarlet Hawks actually led Beloit in most statistical categories, including shots (34-31), draw controls (20-6), and ground balls (24-20). One statistic the Scarlet Hawks would have liked to perform better in was in free position shots, as they were only able to connect on one of seven attempts, leaving chances to cut into the Buccaneers' lead on the table.
First Quarter (Beloit 5 - Illinois Tech 2)
Beloit opened the scoring just over a minute into the match when Paige Airaudi scored on a feed from McNair at 13:54. Just over a minute later the Scarlet Hawks answered, with Kelly Hitchcock getting the equalizer on an assist from Faith Busche at 12:43. That's when the McNair show went off, as the sophomore attacker scored three consecutive goals within 4:41 to give the Buccaneers a 4-1 lead. Judai Smith would get one back at the 4:20 mark on a helper from Hitchcock, pulling the Hawks within two at 4-2. Beloit responded just over a minute later when Olivia Farbarik tallied on a McNair feed to go up 5-2 entering quarter two.
Second Quarter (Illinois Tech 3 - Beloit 3)
McNair would extend the Beloit lead to 7-2 on a pair of goals in the first five plus minutes of the second quarter, both assisted by Elbieata Patapaite. Smith would tally her second of the match for the Scarlet Hawks at the 8:19 mark, assisted by Hitchcock, drawing the Hawks within four at 7-3. McNair would net her sixth goal of the match at the 2:44 mark on a free position goal. Hitchcock would score her own free position goal with 56 seconds remaining, and Smith scored her third of the match with 22 seconds remaining, pulling the Hawks within three goals at 8-5 entering halftime.
Third Quarter (Beloit 3 - Illinois Tech 2)
Each team was held scoreless for the first nine-plus minutes of the third quarter, then each team scored a pair of goals in 1:22. Beloit's Airaudi broke through first with an unassisted tally at the 5:18 mark. Lucy Jorjorian would get that goal back for the Scarlet Hawks 42 seconds later on an unassisted goal. Less than 17 seconds later McNair scored her seventh goal of the match for the Buccaneers, with Jorjorian answering again for the Scarlet Hawks 24 seconds later for her second goal of the match. Airuadi would net her third goal of the match with 39 seconds remaining in the quarter, giving the Buccaneers an 11-7 lead heading into the final quarter.
Fourth Quarter (Beloit 5 - Illinois Tech 2)
The Buccaneers pulled away in the fourth quarter, scoring three unanswered goals before Iona Pettigrew scored her second goal of the season at the 5:07 mark on a feed from Busche. Busche would later score at the 3:38 mark on a feed from Jorjorian, but the goal was sandwiched between a pair of Beloit goals (McNair at 4:29 and Airaudi at 1:44), giving the Buccaneers their final margin of victory, 16-9.
Scarlet Hawks Standouts
- Smith scored 3 goals on 4 shots, while recovering 3 ground balls.
- Jorjorian had a pair of goals on 3 shots to go along with an assist, a ground ball and 2 draw controls.
- Hitchcock tallied 2 goals and 3 assists, had 6 ground balls, 10 draw controls and 1 caused turnover.
- Busche had a goal and 3 assists, 1 ground ball, 6 draw controls, and paced the Hawks with 4 caused turnovers.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will close out their 2023 season with a home match against conference foe Concordia Wisconsin Saturday at 12:00 PM CT at Stuart Field.