Chicago State Women's Soccer Drops Opener in DeKalb

By Sebastian Montoya, Athletics Communications Intern

The Chicago State women's soccer team (0-1) kicked off their season today in DeKalb, Illinois against Northern Illinois, with the Cougars losing to the Huskies, 4-1.

"I am proud of the team," head coach Cristiano Costa said. "We fought the entire game but unfortunately it wasn't enough. We felt the heat but will evaluate the game to see the adjustments we need to make to be ready for our next match."

After 10 minutes of scoreless action, the Huskies finally broke through and scored their first goal of the game with a strike from Haley Hoppe set up by Kierah Meier.
But the Cougars quickly bounced back in the 12^th minute, coming off of a penalty kick awarded with a foul committed by Edith Delgado of NIU, which was easily converted by veteran Sara Quevedo, bringing the score to 1-1 in a thrilling first 12 minutes.

The Cougars and Huskies then went back-and-forth with various chances up until the 41^st minute in which the Huskies broke through and scored their second goal of the game, courtesy of Claudia Muessing with an assist from Julia Neary leaving the Cougars heading into the second half trailing 2-1.
After a slew of substitutions from both teams at the start of the second half, NIU quickly fired in their third goal of the game slotted in by Amanda Czerniak with an assist by Haley Hoppe, which had the Cougars trailing, 3-1.

This led to a stalemate between the two sides in which both teams fired on each other with several chances but neither squad breaking through, until the 73^rd minute in which a foul was committed by Maria de la Fuente leading to another NIU score in the form of a penalty kick converted by Neary, bringing the final tally to a 4-1 defeat for the Cougars.

Chicago State next faces St. Thomas on Sunday at 3:00 pm.

About Chicago State

Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title and made an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).  The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet. 

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