GALESBURG, Ill. – Highlighted by the first career hat trick from freshman Liza Wiley (Bloomington, Ind.-Home School), the Illinois Wesleyan University women's soccer team found its first win of the year with a dominating 5-0 victory over Knox College Wednesday evening, Sept. 11. With the win, IWU moves to a 1-4 record while Knox falls to 0-4.

Wiley led the way for the Titans with eight shots, six of which were on goal on the way to her three-goal showing. Wiley's hat trick is the first by a Titan since Caelyn Steffens did so against Elmhurst, Oct. 19, 2022. She is only the seventh freshman in IWU history to accomplish the feat, and is the first to do so since 2013. Also raking in first career goals were freshmen Ellen Dahlquist (Peoria, Ill.-Peoria Notre Dame) and Taylor Haun (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township). 

Splitting time in goal were freshmen Grace Kiewiet (Leawood, Kan.-Notre Dame de Sion) and Ella Randall (San Francisco, Calif.-The Bay School of San Francisco). Kietwiet played the first 59 minutes and recorded three saves before Randall took over for the final 31 minutes and totaled one save. In all, IWU led with 22 shots on goal to Knox's four, while also holding the advantage in corners, 6-0. 

Illinois Wesleyan brought an aggressive mentality into Wednesday night's contest as three Titans put up a barrage of shots in the first three minutes of play. It wasn't until the 14th minute that Wiley put away her first career goal with a target to the top right corner of the net.

IWU maintained control for most of the opening half as junior captain Bree Cordray (LeRoy, Ill.-University High) set Wiley up with a one-on-one look against Knox's goalie as the freshman notched her second goal of the match to put the Green and White ahead 2-0 heading into halftime.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Dahlquist managed to pull Knox's goalie out of position enough to boot the ball into the back corner for her first career goal, moving the Titans to a 3-0 lead. A lot of back-and-forth occurred through the second half, but it was Wiley who caught three Prairie Fire looking as she secured the first hat trick of her young career. 

With a 4-0 advantage and just three minutes left to play, the Titans got another freshman in on the scoring action as Haun picked up her first career goal to solidify the Green and White's 5-0 shutout over the Prairie Fire. 

The Titans will take the weekend off before returning to the pitch on Wednesday, Sept. 17 to face No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis at Francis Olympic Field in St. Louis, Mo.