By: The Blueboys needed to win and get a few results to go the right way on Saturday. All the pieces fell into place and IC took care of business, closing the regular season with a 6-0 dismantling of Cornell.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – At one point in a chippy second half, when the referee had whistled play to stop and was taking the time to talk to a couple players about the level of physicality in the match,
Austin Cearlock picked up the ball and started dribbling it with his hands before shooting it into an imaginary basket that
Joe Tooley made with his arms. The intramural basketball will have to wait, gentlemen; the Illinois College men's soccer team has a Midwest Conference Tournament title to go win.
After outclassing Cornell by a score of 6-0 on Saturday afternoon, the Blueboys had to sweat out other results from around the conference to see if they would indeed qualify for the four-team tournament that begins at Knox on Friday. Though a Lake Forest win over the Prairie Fire seemed to complicate things to start the day, it all ended with a 2-0 win by St. Norbert over Carroll, just the result that Illinois College needed. Ending the regular season in a three-way tie for third place with Carroll and Monmouth, the Blueboys earned a tiebreaker over the Scots and will go into the MWC Tournament as the No. 4 seed, playing Knox in a semifinal on Friday. IC stands at 10-6-2 (6-3-1 MWC) with the win.
The Senior Day match wasn't always as easy as the final score would indicate. Illinois College didn't break into the scoring column until the 37th minute, when
Brock Chartier converted a feed from
Ben Cochran just inside the right post on a burst through the middle of the penalty area to put the Blueboys on top. IC would double its lead before the break on a penalty kick from
Josue Hernandez, a play that drew the ire of Cornell's head coach and earned him an ejection from the contest.
The news only got worse in the second half for the Rams. The second goal of the day for
Josue Hernandez made it 3-0 in the 51st minute. Tooley advanced the ball into the final third and passed to Hernandez on the right side, who had time to take a touch and settle himself on the ball before beating keeper Shaun Boerner. Francisco Copado then netted his first goal of the season in the 64th minute with a hard shot that took a deflection off a Cornell defender on the way through the penalty area, giving Boerner no chance to shift his momentum to attempt a save.
Michael Hernandez added to Cornell's misery in the 69th minute with an easy finish on the right edge of the six-yard area after a
Denpota Furugaki cross went all the way through to him from the left flank. The final nail in the coffin was a fitting one as
Jordan Nelson scored his second career goal on his final touch of the contest in the 80th minute.
"Credit to Cornell for fighting until the end of its season," said a very happy Head Coach
Tyler Sheikh after the win. "They could have stopped competing after being eliminated from postseason contention but Nate (Grosse) has done a great job in his first year and will continue to no doubt make strides. As for our guys, I couldn't be more pleased for the seniors. Three out of the four ended with goals on the day and Andrew (Matheney) ended his regular season career in true Andrew fashion by coming out with a bloody nose! I was excited with the way our youth performed in the second half, and in the end, it was probably a fair score line."
It was the final regular season match at home for Matheney, Nelson and Josue and
Michael Hernandez, but their careers aren't done just yet. Though the schedule has yet to be released, the semifinals are set for Nov. 7 in Galesburg, Ill. at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. If Illinois College can get a win over the No. 1 seed Knox, the team would play again on Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. for a chance at a MWC title.
"I'm thrilled for the team. I really felt they deserved a spot in the tournament after getting results in seven out of 10 in conference play," Sheikh continued. "To get to the postseason for the first time in a quarter century points to the fact that this program has re-arrived and it is an affirmation of the support we receive from the school and the performances of the student-athletes. We look forward to contesting the conference champs in their house on Friday."
