CHICAGO -- In a contest that showcased 37 shot attempts with 18 shots on goal, the University of St. Francis women's soccer team recorded its first tie of the 2026 season on Wednesday evening with a 2-2 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference draw with Saint Xavier University. The tie pushed the Fighting Saints to a 4-1-1 overall record, and 0-0-1 in league play.
First Half
St. Francis got the offense started in the first half, out-shooting the Cougars 4-0 over the first 11 minutes of play. Saint Xavier (1-5-1, 0-0-1) eventually broke the scoreless deadlock behind the effort of Gema Garibay, who converted a successful penalty kick past USF keeper
Giselle Mata at the 18-minute mark. St. Francis was quick to fire back, however, with a successful penalty kick of their own just three minutes and thirty seconds later off the foot of
Ariadne Gonzalez. In the 35th minute, Garibay would connect for her second penalty kick score of the half, pushing the score to 2-1 in SXU's favor. Both teams continued to work the ball the remainder of the half with the Saints claiming the slight advantage with three shots to two from Saint Xavier only to have all tries from both squads come up empty. That enabled the hosts to go into the break with a 2-1 advantage.
Second Half
The one-score lead lasted for the majority of the minutes after the break with both teams continuing to apply aggressive pressure on each other resulting in five saves within the first 12 minutes of action. The Saints finally found their groove in the 67th minute when it took three shots within a 1:30 time period, but it was later in the 73rd minute when they produced their second goal of the match.
Carisma Rosales took advantage of an
Isabel Diez shot deflection and was credited with the goal, to knot the match up at 2-2 to aid the Saints in securing the draw.
St. Francis overrode the Cougars in shot attempts on the day, authoring 21 compared to SXU's 16. Diez tallied the most tries for USF with nine, while Rosales recorded five. Mata played the full 90 minutes in goal, making six saves.
Up Next
St. Francis will return to action on Saturday (Sept. 26) when the Saints stay at home to face-off against conference foe Judson University. The match will begin at 1:00 pm at Joliet Memorial Stadium.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
