Chicago, Ill. - After snapping a three-game losing streak last Saturday with a convincing 20-6 non-conference victory, the Illinois Tech women's lacrosse team was looking to carry that momentum into their conference opener against Marian on a sun-splashed Saturday morning Senior Day game at Stuart Field. But visiting Marian had other plans on this day, as the Sabres used a nine-goal first half barrage and a stretch of 10 unanswered goals to carry them to a 13-6 victory. The Scarlet Hawks fell to 3-7 overall and start 0-1 in NACC play. Marian improved to 3-7 overall and 1-0 in NACC play.

Prior to the match, the team recognized their six departing seniors as part of their Senior Day festivities: attacker Alison Yurchak, midfielders Faith Busche and Mya Huddleston, defenders Kenza Afif and Nicole Cabezas, and goalkeeper Caitlin Davitt.

First Quarter (Marian 4 - Illinois Tech 1)
Marian opened the scoring with Kayla Kolpitcke scoring an unassisted tally at 12:14 of the opening quarter. Teammate Nicole Stachon followed up with her own unassisted goal at 9:35 for a 2-0 Marian lead. The score would hold for the next several minutes before Kelly Hitchcock scored a player-up goal at 2:26 on a feed from Faith Busche, cutting the Hawks' deficit to 2-1. But Marian would score two more goals in the final 51 seconds of the quarter to carry a three-goal advantage into the second.

Second Quarter (Marian 5 - Illinois Tech 0)
Marian's Kolpitcke and Stachon each would score a pair of goals in the second quarter, and teammate Izzy Newton would add a solo tally with 1:07 remaining to give Marian a 9-1 lead heading into halftime.

Third Quarter (Marian 3 - Illinois Tech 2)
A pair of goals by the Sabres' Kali Moreno and another tally by Kolpitcke at 5:16 of the third period capped off 10 unanswered goals for Marian, giving them a 12-1 lead. Illinois Tech would finally break their scoring drought, however, with Antonia Martinez and Hitchcock scoring a pair of goals in the final minute of the quarter to cut their deficit to 12-3.

Fourth Quarter (Illinois Tech 3 - Marian 1)
Marian's Moreno completed her hat trick at the 8:35 mark of the final quarter, putting the Sabres back out in front, 13-3. The Scarlet Hawks would put up a late push in the match, scoring three goals over the final seven-plus minutes, including Mercy Godfrey's first career goal, and solo tallies from Hitchcock and Martinez. But it wasn't enough to overcome the Sabres first-half outburst.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Kelly Hitchcock with 3 goals, 6 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers and 7 draw controls.
• Antonia Martinez with 2 goals and 1 assist, and 4 draw controls.
• Faith Busche with 1 assist, 2 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers and 3 draw controls.
• Mercy Godfrey with her first career goal scored.
• Caitlin Davitt with 13 saves in the match.

Sabres Watch

• Kayla Kolpitcke with 4 goals, 4 ground balls and 3 draw controls.
• Nicole Stachon with 4 goals.
• Kali Moreno with 3 goals.
• Gwen Kosirog with 10 saves.

Inside The Box Score

• Marian outshot Illinois Tech 32-24.
• Illinois Tech was 0-4 on free position shots, while Marian was 1-5.
• Illinois Tech won the draw control battle 15-7.
• The Scarlet Hawks had a 14-12 advantage in ground balls.

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will host Beloit on Thursday, April 11th at 5:00 PM at Stuart Field in another NACC matchup.