River Forest, Ill. — The Concordia University Chicago women's lacrosse team moved to 4-0 in conference play on Wednesday following an impressive 17-3 win over the Scarlet Hawks of Illinois Institute of Technology. Seven different Cougars scored in the win, led by junior Rylee Orenstein (Walnut Creek, Calif.), who netted a season-high six goals on just eight shots.
With the win, the Cougars officially clinch a spot in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament beginning Tuesday, May 3.
Orenstein got the scoring going less than two minutes into the game with her 19th goal of the season.
Senior Emily Cyrwus (Chicago, Ill.) followed with one of her own three minutes later, and the Cougars were off and running quickly after having not played in two weeks.
The team went on to score seven goals in the first quarter. Cyrwus and Orenstein each netted another while others were added by freshman Paige Palermo (Elmhurst, Ill.) sophomore Jessica Parker (Lake in the Hills, Ill.), and graduate student Elizabeth Cyrwus (Chicago, Ill.).
They picked up right where they left off in the second quarter, with a goal from graduate student Kelli Pietrowski (Wheeling, Ill.) at the 11:23 mark to make it an 8-0 game.
Things slowed for a while on the offensive end following this goal, and the Scarlet Hawks were eventually able to break the shutout with a pair of goals that cut the CUC lead to 8-2.
The second goal of the day for Elizabeth Cyrwus with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the half got the offense back on track.
Orenstein followed with two more goals of her own within a minute of the Cyrwus goal, and just like that the Cougars went to the half with a commanding 11-2 advantage.
It took less than four minutes for the Cougars to once again find the back of the net in the second half, as freshman Sabra Brouillet (Lino Lakes, Minn.) scored her fourth goal of the season off an assist from junior Grace Miller (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) to make it a 10-goal game.
Both Orenstein and Emily Cyrwus continued their big days with another goal in the third period. For good measure, both players added another in the fourth as CUC ran away with its sixth victory of the season.
The final goal of the day was scored by Elizabeth Cyrwus with just 1:08 remaining in the game, joining Orenstein and her sister Emily in the hat trick club for the game.
Junior Ryan McGee (Chicago, Ill.) was fantastic in net against an aggressive IIT attack. She saved 11 of the 14 shots she faced and made certain the Scarlet Hawks never found their way back into the game.
The team will be right back at Concordia Stadium on Saturday afternoon for their final home game of the regular season. Senior Day festivities will take place as the team is set to battle Edgewood College at 2 p.m. Coverage for all of Saturday's action will be available at cucougars.com/coverage.
