ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – It was not the kind of send-off that Augustana women's lacrosse head coach C.J. Holder was envisioning for her seniors. The Vikings dropped a 17-3 decision to Carroll on Saturday, April 24 at Thorson-Lucken Field. The visiting Pioneers clinched the first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin title since Carroll re-entered the league in 2016-17 after leaving following the 1991-92 school year.
It was Senior Day for six Vikings:
Sandra Pielechaty (Taft HS, Chicago, Ill.),
Elizabeth Cook (Minooka HS, Joliet, Ill.),
Ariel Gonsowski-Padron (Zion-Benton HS, Zion, Ill.),
Chloe Anderson (Mattoon HS, Mattoon, Ill.),
Courtney Veitch (Lake Zurich HS, Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) and
Hanane Bousfoul (Errachidia, Morocco).
Carroll dominated in the early going, breaking out to a 10-0 lead at halftime and eventually running the margin to 12-0 in the second half before the Vikings broke through with a goal from junior
Margaret Cecilio (Archbishop Mitty HS, San Jose, Calif.), which came with 23:45 left in the game and it was unassisted.
The Pioneers scored a goal at 22:02 and then the Vikings answered with two straight as Cecilio scored off an assist from
Sydney Rector (Fisher HS, Fisher, Ind.) at 14:35 and then Pielechaty tallied at 13:19 with an assist going to junior
Kathryn Hettiger (Carmel HS, Carmel, Ind.). That made it 13-3 but Carroll finished the game with four straight goals to account for the final score of 17-3.
The visiting Pioneers got five goals from Michaela Johnson and four from Courtenay Karls to lead the way. Carroll held a huge 36-12 advantage in shots attempted over the Vikings and the winners also picked up 25 ground balls compared to just 13 for Augustana. Carroll also won the draw control battle by a wide margin of 15-6.
Viking goaltender Veitch led her team in ground balls with four while Cecilio had a team high four ground balls.
Carroll moved to 10-2 overall and 4-1 in the CCIW, which clinched at least a tie for the title with Chicago and Illinois Wesleyan. The Vikings are now 5-8 overall and 0-4 in league play with one match remaining and that will be Sunday, April 25 at Chicago, starting at 12:00 noon.
