Chicago, Ill. - The 2025 season for Illinois Tech women's lacrosse was never going to be about the won-loss record. 

Head Coach Emily Wesoky, in her first year running the program, said as much at the beginning of the season. The goal, she said, was to play as competitive as can be for a team that lost four starters, had only 5 returning starters and had to fill the gap with on-campus recruits. 

To compound matters, the team lost players due to injuries and attrition, and wound up playing some matches below the normal 12 starters on the field. Substitutions were a luxury the team really did not enjoy during the season, so players had to log the full 60 minutes most every game.

Combine all that with playing a tough non-conference schedule, while playing in an already competitive Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference that had just added tough, new members in Beloit, Cornell, and Lake Forest, and the Scarlet Hawks wound up finishing the season 2-15 overall, while going 1-7 in conference play.

Despite all the challenges the team faced in 2025, Wesoky was pleased with the effort her team brought each and every day.

"The strength and perseverance of these girls just by showing up every day and playing against teams that are full of experienced players was very impressive," said Wesoky. "This season had many wins that the scores did not reflect. Looking back from our first game in Arkansas at Hendrix College to now, the improvement from everyone is unbelievable."

The team did win twice on the season - both at home: a 12-8 victory over Hanover College on March 13th, and an exciting come-from-behind 10-9 conference win over Lawrence University on Senior Day, April 19th.

You can't talk about the 2025 Illinois Tech women's lacrosse team without starting with junior attacker Antonia Martinez. Toni, as she is called by her team, led the team in scoring for the second-consecutive season, finishing with 55 points on 51 goals and 4 assists. With the loss of 60-goal scorer Kelly Hitchcock from last year's squad, Martinez was tasked with being the primary offensive source for the Scarlet Hawks. Despite every opponent knowing this, and sometimes using double or triple-team coverage on her, Martinez was still able to crack the 50-goal threshold for a second-consecutive season, while finishing eighth in the conference with 3.00 goals scored per game. In two season playing for Illinois Tech, Martinez has netted 108 goals and dished out 22 assists for 130 points in her Scarlet Hawks career. Martinez also lead the Scarlet Hawks in draw controls with 80, was second on the team in ground balls with 34 and tied for second in caused turnovers with 14. But the numbers only tell part of the story on Martinez. As the team's most decorated player, she also served as one of the team captains, leading a team with several players new to the sport of lacrosse and helping guide them through the season. Sometimes that involved giving tough love to her teammates, but Martinez had the resume to back it up.

One of the players who made the biggest leap this season was sophomore Isabelle Niebler. Niebler, who played primarily on the defensive side in 2024, was moved to midfielder this season, and wound up finishing second on the team in scoring with 16 points on 11 goals and 5 assists. Niebler had only 1 goal and 1 point in 2024. Niebler tied for the team lead in ground balls with 50, was second on the team with 25 draw controls while leading the team in caused turnovers with 23. Her growth as an all-around player bodes well for her continued ascension as one of the team's top performers.

Junior Iona Pettigrew, who played a mix of defender and midfielder, was third on the team in scoring with 6 goals and 1 assist for 7 points. Pettigrew has increased her goal output every season, going from 2 goals in 2023, to 4 goals in 2024 to 6 goals this past season. Pettigrew recorded 15 ground balls, won 6 draw controls and caused 5 turnovers. Pettigrew's greatest strength is her versatility to play multiple positions on the team depending on the team's need for that given day. She is also the team's fastest player, many times making runs from the Hawks' defensive zone into the other team's attack zone to get the team's offensive attack started.

Graduate student Mercy Godfrey took over goaltending duties from long-time starter Caitlin Davitt, and wound up leading the conference in total saves with 197. Godfrey by far was the NACC goalie under the most fire during games, facing a total of 653 shots on the season. Her 197 saves were 60 more than the next closest conference goalkeeper. Godfrey also had a knack for coming up big on free position shots, stymieing several attempts on the season. Godfrey also tied for the team lead in ground balls with Niebler with 50, while causing 5 turnovers. 

Sophomore Ellie Post joined the team in 2025 after playing on the women's soccer team in 2024. Post scored a pair of goals on the season, and wound up finishing third on the team in ground balls with 30, fourth on the team in draw controls with 7 and tied for second on the team in caused turnovers with 14. Versatility was also a key component of Post's game, as she wound up being the primary person taking draws towards the end of the season. 

First-year midfielder Victoria Akirtava was another player who continued to grow her game and gain confidence throughout the season. Akirtava scored her first two career goals in the second to last game of the season against Lawrence, and continued to improve her ball control as the season progressed. Akirtava was fourth on the team with 19 ground balls and third on the team with 10 caused turnovers.

Sophomore defender Aisha Leatherwood and first-year defender Aislinn McManus logged extensive minutes on the Scarlet Hawks' back-end, helping provide stability in those positions. Leatherwood recovered 7 ground balls and caused 3 turnovers, while McManus had 10 ground balls and 4 caused turnovers. 

The team also received good performance from spot-starter Lucy Jorjorian, who in only 6 matches played wound up scoring two goals, recovered 14 ground balls, won 14 draw controls and caused 7 turnovers. Graduate student Julianna Moore, who only played 3 matches before suffering a season-ending injury, still wound up recovering 9 ground balls and causing 3 turnovers in just 3 matches.

See the full 2025 season statistics here for all players.

While turnovers were a sore spot for the team, the Scarlet Hawks actually had the 4th fewest turnovers in the NACC on the season. However, the team was last in ground balls, caused turnovers and draw controls per game, and will look to shore those areas up next season.

Going forward, the team will have to continue recruit to build roster depth, with 4 graduating players, including the team's lone goalkeeper in Godfrey, Moore, attacker Maritza Torres and midfielder Chloe Browder.

Wesoky, who was in her first season as a collegiate head coach, felt she also grew from the experience this season offered, and is excited for the future.

"I have learned so much from coaching these girls," Wesoky said. "I care about them so much and I wouldn't have wanted to start my college coaching career any other way. Only up from here!"