Chicago, Ill. - The Lady Scarlet
Hawks lost a tough decision to
The Illinois Tech women came out strong against a higher-ranked SXU controlling much of the play from the very beginning. Despite the strong effort on the defensive end, the Lady Cougars managed to slip through on a corner kick. The first 45 minutes closed with the Scarlet Hawks hoping to close the 1-0 deficit.
St. X brought a very physical game the second half, with two players receiving cautious for persistent infringement. Such play led to freshman Lauren Wissman sustaining a broken fibula about 15 minutes into the half. Following this injury, SXU scored their second goal of the game. The IIT women stepped up their intensity in an effort to equalize the game and created a lot of chances but could not capitalize. With 12 seconds remaining in the game, St. Xavier scored their third and final goal.
"We played well but couldn't score," said Coach Peacock. "We worked hard defensively and should have gone in front a few times. However, we got caught napping on the first two goals. St. X is a very good team, and we can't afford to give them goals from set pieces like we did. It's disappointing because we were the better team. We just let ourselves down on two corners and it cost us. Overall though, we are improving. St X has dominated us in recent years and today we looked the better team. The score line does not show the true story. The injury to Lauren is devastating. Two broken legs in a year crazy, we really haven't had any luck in the injury department."
The Scarlet Hawks travel to Olivet to play their first away conference game on Wednesday.
