Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's lacrosse team, looking to overcome the sting of their loss to conference-leading Aurora this past Wednesday, welcomed Cornell College to Stuart Field on Saturday afternoon for Senior Day. The visiting Rams did their best to spoil the festivities, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead. But a last-second goal by Diego Sosa at the end of the first quarter seemed to jump-start the Scarlet Hawks, as they strung together six consecutive goals before the Rams would score again en route to an 8-3 victory. The Hawks improved to 6-2 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play, and to 7-6 overall. The Rams fell to 2-6 in conference and to 5-8 overall.

Sosa finished the day with three goals. Seniors Jackson Brass and Jonathan Vitale each scored a pair of goals, while senior goalkeeper Kyle Johnson recorded nine saves for the win. Brass, Vitale and Johnson, along with fellow seniors Ty Dwyer and Yano Porter were each recognized before the game as part of the team's 2025 Senior Day festivities.

Cornell opened scoring in the match at 9:46 of the first quarter when Matt Norwood scored on a feed from Tyler Foster. The Rams extended their lead to 2-0 when Torii Greiskalns scored an unassisted goal with 4:26 remaining in the opening quarter. But Sosa would get the Hawks on the board, scoring on a feed from Alexander Stokrp as time expired in the first quarter to cut the Hawks deficit to 2-1.

The Scarlet Hawks seemed to carry the momentum of Sosa's goal into the second quarter, scoring a pair of goals in the first four minutes of the quarter to take a 3-2 lead. Brass scored first, netting an unassisted goal at 12:39 to tie the match at 2-2. Sosa would follow with his second goal, converting a pass from Will Von Eyser at 11:14 to move the Hawks in front, 3-2. Connor Montgomery would close out the scoring in the first half when he scored unassisted at 2:46, giving the Hawks a 4-2 halftime lead.

Vitale would cap off the Hawks' run of six consecutive goals when he scored a pair of goals in the third quarter. His first came at 10:22 on a set up from Brass, to give the Hawks a 5-2 lead. Just under five minutes later, Vitale would take a feed from Marc Rebusi and score, increasing the Scarlet Hawks' lead to 6-2. Cornell's Tyler Foster would finally break the Hawks' run of scoring at 4:07, scoring on a feed from Charley Kobets to cut their deficit to 6-3.

The Hawks were able to close out the match in the fourth quarter, holding the Rams scoreless while adding a pair of goals themselves. Brass would score his second of the match at 13:14, assisted by Montgomery, to give the Scarlet Hawks a 7-3 lead.  Sosa would record his hat trick at 4:15 on a helper from Von Eyser for the final margin of victory, 8-3. Sosa now has a team-leading 24 goals on the season.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Diego Sosa led the Hawks with 3 goals and 10 shots, while recovering 2 ground balls
• Jackson Brass with 3 points on 2 goals and 1 assist, 5 ground balls and 1 caused turnovers
• Jonathan Vitale with 2 goals on 5 shots and 2 ground balls
• Connor Montgomery with 2 points on 1 goal and 1 assist
• Will Von Eyser recorded two assists
• Henry Rankin led the Hawks with 9 ground balls and 7 caused turnovers
• Altan Brown with 2 ground balls and 5 caused turnovers
• Duwayne Aikins was 5-8 on faceoffs
• Kyle Johnson recorded 9 saves for the victory

Inside The Box Score

• Tyler Foster led the Rams with 2 points on 1 goal and 1 assist
• Rams' goalkeeper Thomas Cook recorded 20 saves in the contest
• The Hawks outshot the Rams 52-20, and had a 28-12 shots on goal advantage
• Cornell had 40 turnovers; Illinois Tech turned the ball over 25 times
• Faceoffs were relatively even, with Cornell winning 7 and Illinois Tech 6
• Neither team scored on their man-up opportunities, as Cornell was 0-7 and Illinois Tech was 0-3

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will be back at Stuart Field for their regular season home finale this Wednesday night, when they host Benedictine at 7:00 PM in another big conference matchup.