By: The Lady Blues tallied two goals in each half to defeat Beloit and set a new program record for wins in a season.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – When the back-half of a weekend doubleheader brings in a team that is unbeaten and untied on the season, it would be easy to look ahead. That wasn't the case on Saturday afternoon for the Illinois College women's soccer team. Though Lake Forest College looms on the horizon, the Lady Blues were focused on the task at hand and were rewarded with a 4-0 win over Beloit College. Illinois College improves to 9-4-1 (3-2-1 Midwest Conference), and with the victory, become the winningest team in program history eclipsing the eight wins of the 1995 IC squad.
The Lady Blues were full of attacking menace right from the very beginning of the match. Illinois College sent 11 shots goalward in the first half to zero for Beloit, and also had a 6-0 edge in corner kicks. A goal before halftime seemed like a formality and it came in the 30th minute off the foot of
Ashley Sholmire. A cross headed down by
Ashley Riley made its way to the freshman in the six-yard box and she slotted home to put the Lady Blues on top.
Ally Kjellander then doubled the IC advantage in the 39th minute as she roofed a ball played in from the right by
Ellen Radcliffe.
The second half brought more of the same, with
Bianca Savarese dribbling through the Beloit defense before beating Beloit keeper Alex Spirov in the 60th minute. The final blow came in the 86th minute from Sholmire, who made a well-timed run down the left and finished into an open right corner of the net to make it 4-0.
Illinois College ended the match with a 19-3 advantage in shots. Savarese and
Sarah Skaggs each had four in the match, while Sholmire and
Maggie Sabo had three each.
Cat Solberg worked the opening 45 minutes of the match to pick up the win and improve to 7-2-1 on the season.
Illinois College remains in the upper half of the MWC standings with the win, heavily involved in the race for a MWC Tournament berth as the season begins to wind down with four regular season matches remaining. The Lady Blues can take a giant step towards locking up a top-four spot tomorrow as they face Lake Forest at 1:30 p.m. at England Stadium. Lake Forest clinched the regular season MWC title on Saturday and are 16-0-0 (8-0-0 MWC) on the season.
