Chicago, Ill. - After a heart-breaking 1-0 home loss on Wednesday to Benedictine, the Illinois Tech men's soccer team was looking for redemption Saturday afternoon at Stuart Field in front of a sun-splashed Senior Day home crowd. The Scarlet Hawks got that and more, as a brace by Tomas Rebelatto and a solo tally by Carter Liske, all in the first half, helped propel the Hawks to a 3-0 conference victory over Wisconsin Lutheran.

With the victory, the Scarlet Hawks improved their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) record to 4-6-1, and maintained a three-way tie with Benedictine and Concordia Wisconsin for seventh place in the NACC standings with one more game to play. The top eight teams qualify for the NACC Men's Soccer Championship tournament. Illinois Tech owns the tie-breaker over Concordia Wisconsin based on winning the head-to-head matchup earlier in the season, so if the Hawks win their final game at Rockford on Wednesday night, they will punch their ticket to the NACC tournament for a second consecutive season. 

Prior to the match, the team honored departing seniors Devin Zakeri, Mateo Sanchez, Alex Maliwat, Connor Schommer and Farouq Sellami, along with their families, as part of the team's Senior Day celebration.

How It Happened

• The Scarlet Hawks opened the scoring at the 2:55 mark. Paul Balea received a pass in the center circle and forged straight ahead down the middle of the Warriors' zone. With a defender high to his left and another defender lower to his right, Balea sent a through ball between the pair of defenders to a streaking Rebelatto on his right. Rebelatto picked up the ball at the top right of the penalty area, took four strides forward and fired a right-footer into the left corner of the net for an early 1-0 Scarlet Hawks lead.
• The Hawks increased their lead to 2-0 20 minutes later. Mateo Sanchez carried the ball from midfield along the left sideline into the Warriors zone, passing to Balea in the middle of the zone. With Sanchez racing forward to the left of goal, Balea sent the ball through another pair of defenders to Sanchez, who ran to the top left corner of the goal box before sending a pass to his right to Rebellato for an easy tap-in goal, his second goal of the match and sixth of the season. 
• Illinois Tech would cap off the scoring in the match with under 3 minutes to play in the first half. Pieros Siimitras launched a free kick from the left sideline at the middle of the Warrior' zone into the goal box, where a Warriors' defender headed the ball up field. Liske collected the clearing attempt at the top of the penalty area, broke free from a defender and dribbled to his right. From the top of the arc, Liske fired a bullet into the upper left corner to give the Hawks a 3-0 halftime lead that they would maintain.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Tomas Rebellato with a pair of goals, with 3 shots, 2 on frame, in 60 minutes played
• Carter Liske with a goal on 3 shots, all on goal, in 25 minutes
• Paul Balea with the primary assist on Rebelatto's first goal, and the secondary assist on Rebelatto's second goal, to go along with 1 shot in 77 minutes
• Mateo Sanchez with an assist, 3 shots, 2 on frame, in 60 minutes
• Ben Mehl with 3 shots, 1 on goal, in 83 minutes
• Pieros Siimitras and Dominik Kroupa anchoring the Scarlet Hawks defense to a shutout, in 86 minutes and 82 minutes played, respectively

Inside The Box Score

• The Scarlet Hawks outshot the Warriors 17-3, with a 12-1 advantage in shots on goal
• Warriors' goalkeeper Puma Galvan recorded 9 saves in the match
• Fouls were relatively even: 11 fouls for Illinois Tech; 10 fouls for Wisconsin Lutheran

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks conclude the regular season with an afternoon conference match at Rockford on Wednesday, October 30th at 2:00pm. The Hawks control their own post-season destiny: if they win, they're in. If they lose, they will need help in other conference games that evening.