By: A blast from more than 30 yards was the difference on Thursday night, as the visiting Scots scored the winning goal in the 87th minute.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team had been pulling off a high-wire act for a little while now, making one goal stand up in three of the past four matches and earning a scoreless draw in the other. On Thursday night, the script was reversed. An 87th minute blast from Josh Sutherland lifted Monmouth to a 1-0 win under the lights of England Stadium and put an end to the IC shutout streak of nearly 475 minutes.
A defensively-sound first half ended scoreless, with the Scots attempting two shots to one for the Blueboys. Monmouth had the best scoring chance in the opening half as Chizobam Nkemeh was able to free himself in the box for a header, but he struck it well high of the target.
Illinois College dictated play much of the way in the second half and outshot Monmouth, 9-3, after the break.
Roger Mies fired two quick shots in the first two minutes of the half, but didn't find the mark.
Austin Cearlock put the only IC shot on goal in the 57th minute, but it was saved by Luke Cogan.
After more than 85 scoreless minutes, the match seemed destined for extra time until Sutherland's effort found its way past IC keeper
Scott Workman. It was the second goal of the season for Sutherland, on a shot that seemed to be well high off his foot but dipped and found the roof of the net. A late header from
Andrew Matheney went wide to the right of the Monmouth goal and the Scots were able to escape with the win.
"Tip of the cap to Monmouth tonight," Head Coach
Tyler Sheikh said. "(Head Coach) Kooten Johnson has his guys playing inspired soccer and they came into our house and beat us in an ugly conference game. I challenged the guys to show more of their abilities in the second half and I think they did. In the end, we were undone by a worthy strike so now we have to show a response against Ripon to stay in the playoff hunt."
While IC falls to 6-4-2 (2-1-1 MWC) on the season, the Blueboys remain in the thick of the race to earn a bid into the MWC Tournament. They will try to shake off the loss and climb back up the league standings on Sunday, facing Ripon at 11 a.m. at England Stadium.
