Chicago State Women's Soccer Begins Divison I Journey On The Road

Certainly a special moment for Chicago State athletics for the first time in the University's history, the Cougars have introduced a soccer program to the list of teams that will be competing in the Western Athletic Conference this year.
 
The Cougars began their Division I endeavors this past weekend by heading nine hours south to the state of Arkansas and playing two games in two days against Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
 
On Friday, in the Cougars' first ever match, they took to the pitch against the Trojans of Arkansas-Little Rock at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex. In what may have been a case of first game nerves, the Cougars were handed a hefty defeat to the tune of 7-0. Finding themselves in a hole early, the Cougars were down 3-0 within 14 minutes of plays and ended up down 6-0 by halftime. The Trojans, who were led by senior Ariel Galletti's hat-trick, netted a seventh goal in the 59th minute of play to hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.
 
Without much time to dwell on the season opening loss, the Cougars headed to Arkansas- Pine Bluff the following evening on Saturday to take on the Golden Lions.
 
Jumping out to a quick lead, the Cougars scored the program's first ever goal in the 24th minute by the foot of Jyllian Coggins (Birch Run, Mich./Birch Run). Tyler Ross (Gillespie, Ill./Gillespie) then followed Coggins wih her first goal in the 40th minute of action. Right before the half concluded CSU netted a third goal by way of Sara Marcotte (Republic, Mo./Republic).
 
UAPB made a quick push out of the gates in the second half, scoring in the 48th minute, but ultimately saw CSU's resilience take a firm hold on the game as Coggins scored her second goal in the 60th minute of play to give the Cougars a 4-1 lead and the school's first-ever soccer victory.
 
The Cougars will head back home for four games, with the first two taking place this weekend on Friday @ 3:30 PM CST vs. North Dakota, and then following that up with a match on Sunday against Cleveland State @1:00 PM CST.