The Holy Cross women’s soccer team finished their 2024-25 season 8-4-4, a vast improvement from their 5-11-1 record just a season prior. Under the leadership of first-year head coach Duma Magagula, the Saints advanced to the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) semifinals for the first time in program history.
The Saints opened their first month of the season 2-5, but were able to turn the tide with a massive conference win against Governors State. Magagula’s team outclassed the Jaguars in just about every metric. Behind a brace from sophomore forward Miriam Iturriaga-Sanchez, Holy Cross fired away six goals in the victory.
They then started their October off with conference wins against Indiana Northwest and Viterbo. From there, the team maintained stellar form to close out the season, highlighted by a dominant 17-0 victory against Calumet. Iturriaga-Sanchez notched five goals and three assists in the rout, marking her one of ten players to register a point.
With their strong run of play to close out the year, Holy Cross finished as the No. 4 seed in the CCAC playoffs, good enough to set up a home match against the No. 5 Saint Xavier (IL). The match turned into one of the most memorable in program history.
Caught in a stalemate through the first half, neither team could break the other down to open the game. However, with 20 minutes left to play in the second half, Holy Cross was awarded a penalty kick that changed the fate of the game. Iturriaga-Sanchez stepped up to the spot and delivered to break the deadlock. Within the next two minutes, Saint Xavier found a response of their own, although the tie was short-lived.
Sophomore Mia Garatoni converted a header off a clever feed from freshman Cameron Fallacara to make the game 2-1. After holding the lead for ten minutes, two quick goals from Saint Xavier seemingly ended the game. But, on one of their last possessions of the game, Fallacara found a goal of her own to send it to overtime.
Two overtime periods weren’t enough to decide the game, so penalty kicks ensued. Freshman goalkeeper Madeleine Agee made two saves to send Holy Cross to their first-ever CCAC semifinal.
Agee, a Gateway student transferring to Notre Dame next fall, made the most of her lone season with the Saints. She amassed a total of 102 saves and recorded six shutouts, five of which came in conference play. Her excellent season was rewarded with a spot as a member of the all-conference first team. Agee was joined by sophomore defender Abigail Fouts. Fouts started all 20 games for the team and provided a steady presence to hold down the defensive line.
Despite ultimately falling just short in the semifinals to St. Ambrose (IA), the Saints were able to achieve unprecedented success in a program-defining year.
