by Eric Willuweit

Aurora, Ill. - The Illinois Tech women's lacrosse team continued their road travels Wednesday afternoon at Aurora, opening conference play with a 24-6 loss to the Spartans. The Scarlet Hawks fell to 2-7 overall and open NACC play 0-1. The Spartans improved to 8-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

The Scarlet Hawks played their sixth consecutive road match Wednesday, with one more match to go on Saturday.

Aurora controlled play, outshooting Illinois Tech 32-13 for the match, while winning the draw control battle 20-12 and ground balls 26-16.

The Spartans opened the first quarter with four straight goals in the first three-plus minutes of the opening quarter. Kelly Hitchcock scored at the 11:18 mark on a free position shot to get the Hawks on the board, down 4-1. That would the the only Hawks tally in the quarter, as the Spartans would score nine more times for a 13-1 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Scarlet Hawks would score a pair of goals in the second quarter. Hitchcock scored unassisted 1:13 into the quarter, and she followed up with another unassisted tally at the 2:21 mark. The Hawks would have their best quarter in the fourth, with Lucy Jorjorian scoring unassisted at the 13:02 mark. Judai Smith followed up with a pair of goals midway through the final frame, scoring on a feed from Faith Busche at 7:37, and 70 seconds later on a pass from Hitchcock.

Up Next

The Scarlet Hawks will travel to Madison, Wis. on Saturday for a 12:00 PM CT matchup with conference foe Edgewood, completing their seven-game road swing.