Chicago, Ill. - Since becoming a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) in 2018, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks women's soccer team has made it into the post-season tournament every season (excluding 2020 due to COVID-19) and has reached the tournament championship game in 4-out-of-5 of their tournament appearances. There is just one thing left to do for the Hawks, win the conference championship and receive an automatic berth into the NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Tournament.
After winning the regular season championship and then falling short in the post-season tournament in 2023, the Hawks are looking to make 2024 their year.
"We're prepared, we're ready" said Head Coach Roshane Ellison on the beginning of the 2024 season. The campaign begins Friday, August 30 when the Hawks travel to Grand Rapids, Mich. to take on the Calvin University Knights who are a strong, competitive team that are ranked 15th in the United Soccer Coaches Pre-Season Poll.
After finishing last season with a 19-3-1 overall record and a perfect 13-0-0 record, the Hawks look to return to post-season form and win their first NACC Tournament title. At the end of the 2023 season, Gabriella Baltes, Mary Frampton, Allison Murray, Lucy Jorjorian, Caitie Chismarich, Hailey Flannagan, Kelly Hitchcock, and Jillian Oligschlaeger all received all-conference honors, and while all nine are making the return to the team, eight of them will be competing on the pitch for the 2024 season. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year and First Team NACC defender Baltes and First Team defender Frampton will look to continue to hold down the central defense, along with Second Team Goalkeeper Flannagan behind them in net. First Team forward Chismarich led the offense last season and will look to continue to be a leading contributor for the Hawks. In addition, Kayla Smith makes her return to the Hawks, who missed all last season due to injury. Starting off her career as a defender, Smith made the move to offense during the second part of her freshman season and finished the year with 7 goals and 7 assists. Chismarich and Smith, along with the Hawks other offensive talents, will look to create problems for other teams' defenses throughout the season.
In the NACC, the Hawks were ranked among conference head coaches and head athletic communicators as the favorites to capture the 2024 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference title after receiving 379 points and 21 of a possible 28 first-place votes.
The Hawks "have a lot of depth" said Ellison, who brought in 12 new players to join the returners. "[Our] strength is [our] depth. We have a lot of players that we can make subs and still maintain a high level of quality out there on the field."
With 12 new additions to the team, the key has been building chemistry. "I believe that as we go through the season, we are going to see a chemistry that continues to develop throughout the team" said Ellison who is excited to see what the team builds. While building chemistry takes time, Ellison feels that "as we go through the season, the chemistry is going to continue to develop. The players are going to understand each other's movement a lot more and that is going to help us be more efficient in terms of moving the ball throughout the lines and creating quality goal-scoring opportunities.
"I'm excited about the team." said Ellison. "[We've] returned a strong group and additionally we have brought in some quality players that is going to allow us to have depth and have a lot of success this season."
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Hawks begin the season today, August 30 at 3:30 PM when they take on the Calvin University Knights on the road.
