ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan scored four first-half goals in a three-minute stretch and took an 11-1 lead to intermission on its way to a 15-6 win over Augustana Saturday at Thorson-Lucken Field. The Vikings fell to 4-7 overall and 0-2 in the CCIW, while the Titans improved to 9-2 on the season and 1-0 in the league.
Sophomore goalie Courtney Veitch had
17 saves and nine ground balls Saturday
in Augustana's 15-6 loss to Illinois
Welsyena at Thorson-Lucken Field.
Bridget O'Malley's goal 2½ minutes in got IWU on the board, but Augustana kept the deficit at 1-0 until 22:39 of the first half. That's when Grainne Kelly scored on a free position attempt—the first of four Titan goals in a span of less than three minutes. Riley Rooney's tally at the 20:06 mark gave IWU a 5-0 advantage.
Dani Engelbreit and Maggie Torres scored just 21 seconds apart near the 13-minute mark to extend the lead to 7-0 before
Christina McCabe (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) got the Vikings on the board 11:26 before halftime. The visitors scored the last four goals of the half to take an 11-1 lead to the break.
McCabe sandwiched a pair of goals around one by
Carla Bennett (Marian Catholic HS, South Holland, Ill.) early in the second half as Augustana drew to within 11-4. The Titans answered with two straight and the teams traded goals over the last 18 minutes, with McCabe and
Bailey Aasen (Park HS, Cottage Grove, Minn.) scoring for the Vikings and Torres and Engelbreit for IWU.
Augustana goalie
Courtney Veitch (Lake Zurich HS, Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) recorded 17 saves—the fourth-highest single-game total in program history—and her nine ground balls equaled the second-most ever in a game for the Vikings.
McCabe's four goals led Augustana. Bennet had team highs of two assists and four draw controls and
Juliette Camara (Spoon River Valley HS, Martel, France) caused two turnovers.
Engelbreit had four goals, 10 draw controls and five caused turnovers for the Titans and Sam Bidlack a team-high four assists. Janaye Godfrey (first half) and Sydney MacDonald (2nd) split time in goal, totaling seven saves.
Coach C.J. Holder's club is back in action on Wednesday, April 10 at the University of Chicago in a CCIW contest scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
