NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- A solid outing from the University of St. Francis women's soccer team pushed the Fighting Saints to a 2-0 victory over Holy Cross College (Ind.) in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon. The two teams remained scoreless at the break before the Fighting Saints jumped ahead 1-0 with 23 minutes remaining in the second half courtesy of a
Carisma Rosales goal.
Ariadne Gonzalez later added on an insurance tally as USF improved to 7-4-1 overall, and 3-0-1 in league play.
First Half
In the opening half, Holy Cross (2-6-1, 1-2-0 CCAC) had solid opportunities to score, but was unable to find the back of the USF net. The hosts attempted eight tries in the half while targeting the goal twice in the 4th and 31st minutes. Both of those attempts would fall short, however, with starting USF keeper
Giselle Mata and sophomore midfielder
Jimena Diaz each being credited with a save to aid the Fighting Saints in holding the score even at 0-0. Holy Cross outshot St. Francis in the first 45 minutes of action, 8-1, with USF's lone try from Rosales resulting in a defensive save for HCC.
Second Half
Rosales provided the first goal of the match for the Saints, doing so in the 67th minute with an assist from
Isabel Diez. Just three minutes after USF took the 1-0 lead, Gonzalez pushed the Saints' scoring margin up to two in collecting her eighth goal of the 2026 campaign off an assist from
Litzy Flores in the 70th minute. Holy Cross outshot USF in the final 45 minutes of action, 6-4, with Mata recording three of her four saves in the period within the final 19 minutes to keep the opponents' scoreless.
In total, USF registered five shot attempts with four total on-target, while holding off Holy Cross' 14 shots for the match. Mata recorded her seventh win and third shutout of the season while authoring five saves after logging all 90 minutes in the USF net.
Up Next
The Saints will have a week of rest before taking the field again on Saturday, October 10 to play conference foe Olivet Nazarene University at 6:30 pm at Joliet Memorial Stadium.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
