The College of DuPage women’s soccer team defeated Joliet Junior College 3-0 on Sept. 25 after a strong first half that consisted of a handful of counterattack opportunities and shots on goal. The Chaps’ early pressure in the match led to the Wolves being forced to defend most of the game, allowing the Chaps to press the advantage.

“The challenge was set to put on a professional performance and to get a clean sheet,” said women’s head coach Matt Hanna. “We tried to score three goals, and we did that, so I’m really happy with that. We are trying to prepare for the tougher games we have left this season, so we make sure not to take our foot off the gas [pedal] and push them forward and, hopefully, it will put us in a good position when we play better teams.”

After a crucial turnover near their own goal, the Wolves allowed Freshman Mariel Lara to land a solid shot on goal, bringing the Chaps a 1-0 lead only 11 minutes into the match.

“[The win] felt good, and we dominated a lot better in the first half, but in the second half we still defended really well,” said Lara. “We talked about our winning mentally before the game and how we had to have a shutout today.” 

Lucille Sugarman scored for the Chaps to make it 2-0 after receiving a perfectly paced cross from teammate Joli Weigandt.

“I had a great time on the field today and our chemistry is getting a lot more solid,” said Sugarman. “I feel like we played as a family and honesty, I was looking to get the next goal [after scoring]. [After scoring], it was an exciting moment or two, but then I got my head back into the game, and we didn’t want any goals scored on us and needed to score three goals.

Asa Potts scored the final goal for the Chaps off an assist from Sugarman that came from a one-two pass combination near the box. This made the score 3-0 and secured the victory for COD.

“How we played this game is something that we’ve been waiting for a long time,” said Potts. “A lot of things we worked on in practice showed in this game, but everyone played great. We have the mentality to play the first five [minutes] like it’s the last five minutes. Knowing that we can get more [goals] and talking about it at half-time was the mindset. [Joliet] was a team where we could not only get 3 [goals] but maybe even four or five.”

The Chaparrals will take on Waubonsee Community College at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium.