JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis women's soccer team suffered their first loss of the 2025 season on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 defeat to NAIA No. 6-ranked Marian University (Ind.).  The loss pushed the Fighting Saints to a 3-1-1 record, while the Knights' stayed undefeated on the year at 8-0.

First Half
Marian got the offense started in the first half, out-shooting the Saints 4-1 over the first 18 minutes of play.  The Knights eventually broke the scoreless deadlock behind the effort of Katie Kroger, who put a shot past USF keeper Giselle Mata - her first allowance of the season - at the 18:02 mark.  St. Francis was quick to fire back, however, taking advantage of a MU foul in the box that produced a successful penalty kick off the foot of Kelly Flores in the 25th minute.  Nine minutes later, Marian would connect for its second score of the game, finding the upper left corner of the USF net.  Both teams continued to work the ball the remainder of the half with the Knights claiming the advantage with four shots to one from USF only to have all tries from both squads come up empty.  That enabled the guests to go into the break with a 2-1 advantage.

Second Half
The one-score lead lasted for 13 minutes after the break before MU's Olivia Parmer upped the Knights' lead to 3-1 with an open net goal.  Nonetheless, the Saints continued to apply their aggressive pressure and were able to produce their second goal of the match in the 67th minute.  Mia Ocana was credited with the goal on an assist from Flores, to cut the MU lead down to 3-2.  USF struggled to find a groove the remainder of the match until the 83rd minute when it took three shots within a 1:30 time period, but the Knights were the ones who added to their stat line, scoring the final goal of the match at the 87:03 mark to widen their lead to 4-2 to secure the win.

The Knights overrode the Saints in shot attempts on the day, authoring 20 compared to USF's 11.  Flores tallied the most tries for St. Francis with five, while Ocana recorded two.  Mata played the full 90 minutes in goal, making eight saves.

Up Next
St. Francis will return to action on Wednesday (Sept. 17) when the Saints travel to Palos Heights, Ill. to face-off against conference foe Trinity Christian University.  The match will begin at 4:00 pm at the Schaaf Athletic Complex.

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