Chicago, Ill. - Winless in their first five games of the season, Illinois Tech women's lacrosse had an early evening contest Thursday night at Stuart Field with another squad looking for their first win of the season, Hanover College. After falling behind by a pair of goals early in the second quarter, the Scarlet Hawks scored 3 goals in 1:51 midway through the second quarter to take a 5-4 lead into halftime, and they added on in the second half en route to a 12-8 victory. The Scarlet Hawks gain their first win of the season, and improve to 1-5 overall. The Panthers fall to 0-3. 

The win for the Hawks also represented the first collegiate victory for first-year Head Coach Emily Wesoky.

Antonia Martinez had a huge game for the Scarlet Hawks, scoring seven goals, including the game-tying goal in the second quarter that gave the Hawks the momentum they needed to take control of the game. Martinez now has 12 goals on the season to lead the team. 

How It Happened

• 1st Quarter - Illinois Tech 2 - Hanover 2: The game was scoreless just under the first ten minutes of play before Hanover scored the opening goal of the contest at 5:09, as the Panthers' Quinn Cherry took a feed from Anissa Weber, stationed behind the Hawks' goal, and Cherry put it past Hawks' goalkeeper Mercy Godfrey for a 1-0 Hanover lead. The Panthers added on to their lead just over three minutes later when Abby Mensing scored unassisted at 1:57 for a 2-0 lead. Martinez would pull the Hawks even in the final minute of the quarter, scoring unassisted with 36 seconds remaining. With six seconds remaining, Martinez was awarded a free position shot, and she converted to forge a 2-2 tie at the end of the opening quarter.
• 2nd Quarter - Illinois Tech 5 - Hanover 4: Just under two minutes into the second quarter, Hanover regained the lead with a player-up goal at 13:04 by Cherry, with another assist by Weber. Just over two minutes later the Panthers extended their lead to 4-2 with Kaitlyn Madden scoring on a feed from Cherry at 11:02. After an Illinois Tech timeout, the Hawks would mount their comeback 23 seconds later. Lucy Jorjorian won the draw to set the Hawks up in the offensive zone, and Martinez scored unassisted at 10:39 to cut the Hawks deficit to 4-3. Martinez would score again at 9:15 to tie the game at 4-4. Double green card penalties to Hanover at the 9:00 mark gave the Scarlet Hawks a two-player up advantage, and Isabelle Niebler converted a free position attempt at 8:48 to give Illinois the lead at 5-4, the Hawks first lead of the season. 
• 3rd Quarter - Illinois Tech 8 - Hanover 5: With the Hawks playing a player down due to a penalty , Niebler would knock the ball loose from the Panthers' Abby Mensing in the Hawks zone, recover the ground ball, rush down field and fire a shot past Hanover's goalkeeper Emma Williams at 13:35 to extend the Hawks lead to 6-4. With just under 10:30 to play in the quarter, Godfrey made three consecutive saves on Panther shot attempts in a 45 second stretch to help keep the Hawks up by two. The Panthers would eventually break through at 7:25 when Mensing converted a free position attempt to pull Hanover within one goal at 6-5. Wesoky called another Illinois Tech timeout after the Panthers' goal to slow down the Hanover attack and settle her team down. The timeout worked, as the Hawks won the subsequent draw, and just over a minute later Martinez scored her fifth goal of the match at 6:22 to regain a two-goal lead at 7-5. A turnover by Hanover over a minute later set  up a rush by Jorjorian, who cashed in on the other end at 5:07 for her first goal of the season to open up a three-goal lead at 8-5. The teams would remain scoreless over the final five minutes of the quarter.
• 4th Quarter - Illinois Tech 12 - Hanover 8: Jorjorian would strike again for Illinois Tech at 12:49, converting on a free position attempt during a player-up advantage to extend the Hawks lead at 9-5. Hanover would get the goal back a minute later, with Mensing scoring on a pass from Cherry at 11:49 to make the score 9-6. The Hawks would get the goal back 37 seconds later when Martinez scored her sixth goal of the game at 11:12 for a 10-6 lead. Martinez would cap off her scoring in the match at 10:36 with her 7th goal of the game to grow the Hawks lead to 11-6. The teams would go scoreless over the next seven minutes before Mensing scored her fourth goal of the game at 3:39, pulling within four goals at 11-7. Ellie Post would close out the scoring for the Scarlet Hawks at 2:27, converting on a free position attempt for her second goal of the season for a 12-7 lead. Mensing would score her fifth goal of the game for the Panthers at 57 seconds for the final score of 12-8.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Antonia Martinez with 7 goals on 8 shots, to go along with 6 ground balls, 1 caused turnover and 5 draw controls
• Isabelle Niebler with 2 goals and 1 assist on 5 shots, recovered 4 ground balls, 1 caused turnover and 4 draw controls
• Lucy Jorjorian with 2 goals on 4 shots on goal, 6 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers and 5 draw controls
• Ellie Post with a goal on 5 shots, 2 ground balls and 2 caused turnovers
• Iona Pettigrew with 3 shots, 1 shot on goal, 1 ground ball and 1 caused turnover
• Mercy Godfrey with 7 saves and her first win of the season

Inside The Box Score

• Abby Mensing led the Panthers in scoring with 5 goals on 8 shots, recovered 6 ground balls, caused 3 turnovers and won 3 draw controls
• Quinn Cherry had 2 goals and 2 assists for Hanover
• Anissa Weber with 2 assists, 4 ground balls and 1 draw control for Hanover
• Illinois Tech outshot Hanover 29-21
• Illinois Tech held a 16-7 advantage in draw controls
• Hanover was 1-4 on free position attempts; Illinois Tech went 4-5

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks travel to University Heights, Ohio on Wednesday, March 19th for a non-conference match with John Carroll University at 7:00pm ET.