Danville, KY. - Looking to build off their spring break trip-opening win on Monday, the Illinois Tech women's lacrosse team got out of the gate fast with a goal one minute into their match at Centre on Thursday night. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Hawks the host Colonels had other designs for the match, as Centre scored nine times in the opening quarter en route to a 23-6 victory. The Scarlet Hawks fell to 2-4 on the season. Centre improved to 6-2.

The Colonels used a swarming defense that resulted in 11 caused turnovers, a 28-11 ground ball advantage while holding the Scarlet Hawks to just 9-21 in clear attempts.

First Quarter (Centre 9 - Illinois Tech 3)
Faith Busche opened the scoring in the match with a goal one minute into the opening quarter, giving the Scarlet Hawks a short-lived 1-0 lead. Centre would counter with an Emma Botts goal 35 seconds later to tie the match at 1-1, then the Colonels would go on to score the next three goals for a 4-1 lead. An Antonia Martinez goal on a feed from Busche at 9:56 cut the Hawks' deficit in half at 4-2. The teams traded the next two goals, with Kelly Hitchcock scoring at 8:02 to pull within 5-3 after Centre's Haley Rice tallied 37 seconds earlier. Centre would finish out the quarter scoring four unanswered goals for the 9-3 lead.

Second Quarter (Centre 7 - Illinois Tech 2)
Centre picked up where they left off in the first quarter, scoring 59 seconds into the second quarter, one of five goals total in less than five minutes for a 14-3 lead. Back-to-back goals by Hitchcock and Martinez for the Scarlet Hawks over a six-minute span pulled the Hawks within 9 at 14-5. But Botts scored twice more for Centre in the final minutes of the half to take a 16-5 lead into halftime.

Third Quarter (Centre 5 - Illinois Tech 1)
The Colonels scored four straight goals in the third quarter to expand their lead to 20-5. Martinez scored the Scarlet Hawks final goal of the match at 2:08 for a 20-6 deficit heading into the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter (Centre 2 - Illinois Tech 0)
The Scarlet Hawks were shut out in the final quarter, as Centre added a pair of goals late in the fourth quarter for the final 23-6 margin of victory.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Antonia Martinez with 3 goals on 9 shots, with 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers and 3 draw controls.
• Kelly Hitchcock with 2 goals on 6 shots, with 3 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers and 8 draw controls.
• Faith Busche with 1 goal and 1 assist.

Colonels Watch

• Emma Botts with 5 goals, 3 assists for 8 points, and 3 caused turnovers.
• Ella Treinen with 4 goals, 4 ground balls and 3 draw controls.
• Lily Gahm with 3 goals, 1 assist, 3 ground balls and 7 draw controls.
• Haley Rice with 3 goals, 2 assists and 6 ground balls. 

Inside The Box Score

• Illinois Tech was 0-2 free position shots, while Centre converted on 4 of 6.
• Centre won the draw control battle 19-12.

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will be back in the Chicagoland area to take on North Central College next Tuesday, March 19th in Naperville at 7:00 PM in a non-conference match.