By HENRY AMINI
Women’s soccer defeated Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois by a score of 1-0 on Saturday to clinch a spot in the conference tournament this upcoming weekend.
In an underwhelming Beloit fall sports season, the Buccaneers women’s soccer team are providing a lifeline for the 2024 athletic season. The veteran roster is led by 13 graduating players who, before Saturday, had seen three consecutive Midwest Conference tournament appearances.
Conference success began with a dominant 4-1 win against the Cornell Rams but it was a tightly contested 0-1 loss against the Lake Forest Foresters (1st) and a drop of points 0-1 against Grinnell (5th) that ignited the season’s dramatic finish.
The team turned around to face Illinois College, last Saturday, in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the conference season. With the Buccaneers fourth straight conference tournament berth in the hot seat, both Beloit and the Blue Girls were in contention for a playoff spot with a win.
The battle at England stadium fought to a near stalemate behind Maya Betzler’s 24’ 8 saves and a disciplined buccaneers defense. Tensions between the two teams had nearly peaked when Kaitlyn Hudetz 25’ scored the game winner off of an 86th minute corner kick played in by Abigail Membrino 24’.
The conference clinching goal brought heartbreak to Jacksonville souring the Blue Girls’ senior day celebrations. Captain defender Grace Hartwig 24’ who was an integral piece in maintaining the playoff clinching shutout, humbly called the win “a great birthday gift” stating her excitement to earn one more week with her team.
Beloit now looks ahead at the conference tournament where they’ll meet again with the tournament hosts, Lake Forest, this Friday, November 8th. The unbeaten Foresters will have to defend their home stadium against a motivated Buccaneers team that showed the ability to compete with and, at times, dominate even the best teams in the Midwest conference. The game will be live on the Beloit College Athletics website to support the Buccaneers on their return to the Midwest Conference semifinals.
Featured Image: Megan Thompson’25 via Beloit College
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