Louisville, Ky. — The Chicago State women's soccer team took on the University of Bellarmine Knights Thursday morning, falling, 3-2.
"The team played together and, what we work on in training, they executed on the field," head coach Cristiano Costa said. "It was great to witness their performance. But we leave Kentucky feeling disappointed because we know we could have won this match."
At the beginning of the first half, the Knights came out hot and at just the 14th minute of the game. They struck in the first goal of the match courtesy of Regan Kommor with a rocket shot straight down the middle assisted by Sarah Kraus, opening up the score at 1-0.
For the remainder of the half, the Cougars relentlessly fought back and put up various chances but never converted any which had them heading into halftime trailing, 1-0.
At the start of the second half, the Cougars came out alive and with just five minutes into the half, Hailey Stacey fired in her first goal of the season off of an assist by Mary Perez which now had the Cougars clawing their way back with a tie at 1-1.
For the next twenty minutes, both teams produced a slew of attacking opportunities which caused danger to both goalkeepers, but neither offense could capitalize.
It wasn't until the 70th minute that the Knights rose to the occasion and slotted in their second goal of the match, produced off of a beautiful assist by Kommor and finished off by Grady Clark, which had the Knights now up 2-1.
In just two minutes, the Knights fired in yet another goal, which was beautifully placed into the back of the net by Zenia Nava which was assisted by Clark, the Knights now with two players recording an assist and a goal in Clark and Kommor.
The last goal of the match came in just four minutes after Bellarmine's last goal, produced by a penalty kick swiftly placed by Chicago State's Sara Quevedo.
The match ended at 3-2 in a stinging loss for the Cougars.
The Cougars return to action Friday at 1:00 p.m., when they will face UTRGV to open Western Athletic Conference competition.
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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