Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – A goal by sophomore Jessa Rizzo (Fremd HS, Palatine, Ill.) put Augustana ahead 2-1 in the 51st minute Wednesday and the Vikings went on to win their CCIW match with North Central by that score at Thorson-Lucken Field. Coach Scott Mejia's side improves to 10-3-2 on the year and 3-1 in league play. The Cardinals fall to 6-5-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
 
Augustana went in front 1-0 in the 17th minute. Junior Jessica Kras (Glenbard North HS, Carol Stream, Ill.) took a pass from classmate Kelly Farell (St. Ursula Academy, Sylvania, Ohio) and, from 20 yards out, lofted a shot over the head of North Central keeper Nicki Seiton and into the net. The goal was Kras' team-leading eighth of the season and Farell was credited with her team-best seventh assist.
 
Three minutes later, the Cardinals leveled the match on a Caitlyn Orawiec goal. Orawiec fired a shot from about 35 yards straight on which deflected off the left upright and into the net.
 
The Vikings got the go-ahead goal in the 51st minute, when reigning CCIW Offensive Player of the Week Kortney Hix (Mountain Vista HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) passed to Rizzo on the left wing. Rizzo's blast from outside the left corner of the box snuck in just under the crossbar. The goal tied her with Kras for the team lead. Hix's assist was her second of the year.
 
From there, Mejia's defense, led by senior co-captains Kerri Skotnicki (Waubonsie Valley HS, Aurora, Ill.) and Kimberly Grimmer (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.), along with junior Stef Hamaker (Boylan Catholic HS, Caledonia, Ill.) and sophomore Hannah Lohmeier (Waunakee HS, Waunakee, Wis.), took care of things. The Cardinals got off just two more shots and none in the final 36 minutes of the match. Sophomore goalkeeper Margaret Williams (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.), in her third start of the year, recorded two saves and bumped her record to 2-0-1.