SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs dropped their first contest of the 2024 season 3-2 in a match with the University of Chicago Maroons on Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Slugs are now 2-1-2 on the season and will travel down the coast to take on Pomona-Pitzer on Sept. 12 at 7:00 p.m. in Claremont, Ca. In the hard fought battle with the Maroons, UCSC was edged in shots 14-9 by the Maroons with Chicago putting 11 on frame to the Slugs six on target. University of Chicago also created the most corner opportunities with eight on the day to the Slugs one.
 
How It Happened
The opening 15 minutes of action saw Chicago take the first shot in the 8th minute, but the Slugs took three shots from the 11th minute through the 15th minute, putting two on frame to pressure the Maroons goalkeeper.
 
In the 18th minute, the Slugs fought down the right side outside of the box and earned a free kick from roughly 25 yards out. Cassidy Segrell got set for the kick, lifted the ball to the near side into the box where the Maroons keeper came off her line. In a bit of miscommunication, a Maroons defender headed the ball to make a clear, but the touch resulted in the ball sailing over the Chicago keeper and found itself in the back to the net for the own goal, giving UCSC a 1-0 lead.
 
University of Chicago was able to counter just over three minutes later with the equalizer to make it 1-1 in the 21st minute. As play settled back down, we saw the Maroons pressure again in the 41st minute, connecting with the back of the goal to make it 2-1. Less than a minute later, UC Santa Cruz was knocking on the door with Chelyn Ackerman fighting through all kinds of contact, getting knocked to the ground while taking a shot. Ackerman managed to slot the shot past the keeper's right side and tie the game 2-2 heading into the halftime break.
 
Much of the second half was controlled by the Maroons offensively with Chicago recording 10 shots to the Slugs five. University of Chicago was finally rewarded for their efforts with a goal in the 80th minute despite strong defense from UC Santa Cruz. The goal put the Maroons up 3-2 which held throughout the contest as the University of Chicago allowed just one more Banana Slug shot in the final 10 minutes.