Falcons Squeeze the Scarlet Hawks

CHICAGO – The Concordia Wisconsin women's lacrosse team ended the regular season on a high note on Saturday. The Falcons cruised to a 15-6 victory to finish the regular season at 8-7 and in second place in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference at 5-1, the best finish in conference for CUW since 2017.

The Scarlet Hawks struck first on Saturday with two goals in the first two minutes.

Junior Eliana Fuchs (Brookfield, Wis.) put the Falcons on the scoreboard after she charged down the field and tossed the ball in the net.

Freshman Katelyn Cardinale (Mount Laurel, N.J.) tied the game three minutes later after she found an open spot in front of the net.

Junior Olivia Niego (La Grange, Ill.) danced around in front of the net and snuck the ball past the keeper to give the Falcons the lead.

Katelyn Cardinale scored the next two goals to elevate the lead to 5-2.

Illinois Tech cut into the lead with a goal, but freshman Ella Maltby (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) responded with a free-position goal 45 seconds later.

The final goal of the first quarter came from sophomore Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) with 55 seconds remaining on a free-position shot.

The Red and White were first on the scoreboard in the second quarter to cut the Concordia lead to 7-4.

Eliana Fuchs scored a wide-open shot after sophomore Brenna Bieniek (Shakopee, Minn.) found Fuchs wide-open after she stole the ball back.

Ella Maltby ran all around the IIT defense and tossed the ball into the net.

Olivia Niego charged the net and scored to give the Falcons a 10-4 lead at halftime.

The Falcons started the scoring in the third quarter when Grace Willshire stole the ball and found sophomore Natalie Mackrell (Stuttgart, Germany) who then tossed it to junior Andra Hansen (Seattle, Wash.) in front of the net and she put it away.

The Blue and White then won the draw control with Natalie Mackrell and she found Olivia Niego up ahead and Niego netted another goal.

The Scarlet Hawks scored the final goal of the quarter to trim the CUW lead to 12-5 heading into the fourth quarter.

Olivia Niego cut through the IIT defense like butter to start the fourth quarter scoring.

Ella Maltby was able to sprint past her defender and bounced a shot into the net.

Junior Anna Gong (Phoenix, Ariz.) closed the Concordia scoring on a free position shot.

Sophomore Madisen Myers (Rosemount, Minn.) picked up four saves in the victory.

The Falcons held a 34-17 advantage in shots on Saturday.

Olivia Niego led the game with four goals on eight shots and four ground balls.

Eliana Fuchs had three draw controls for Concordia.

Anna Gong caused two turnovers in the victory.

The Falcons will now host Marian in the NACC Tournament Semifinals. The Falcons defeated the Sabres on April 11 in Fond Du Lac, 12-8.