By: Two goals in the final three minutes of regulation cancelled each other out and each team took a point away from Tuesday’s match.
Box Score MONMOUTH, Ill. – On a cold and rainy afternoon, the Illinois College men's soccer team played Monmouth College to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday. IC looked to have the match won with a goal with less than three minutes to play, but the Scots answered in the 89th minute to salvage a point. The Blueboys move to 9-6-2 (3-4-2 Midwest Conference) with the result.
The first half was a bit of a grind for both teams with few clear chances for either side.
Ben Cochran launched a shot on goal in the opening minute, but Monmouth's Chase Stroud was there for the first save of the match. Midway through the half,
Brock Chartier had a shot on goal but Stroud was there again for the stop. The teams went into the break still deadlocked at 0-0.
The second half started off as more or less a repeat of the opening 45 minutes. For long stretches both defenses were a step ahead and breaking up attacking opportunities before they even began. The first sign that the match was about to open up came midway through the second half. IC had a throw-in deep in the Monmouth final third, but the Scots got the clearance and quickly broke the other way, bearing down on
Ty Clearwater in goal for the Blueboys. From point-blank range, Clearwater made the stop on Monmouth's Sebastian Heretyk to maintain the scoreless tie. Shortly thereafter,
Austin Cearlock whipped in a low cross after a foul had given IC a free kick, but
Mesfin Lenth narrowly missed the touch that could have put Illinois College in the lead.
The breakthrough for the Blueboys came in the 88th minute and seemed like it would be the winning goal. A foul on Monmouth set Illinois College up on the edge of the penalty area and Cearlock once again stood over the ball. This time, his kick took a deflection and came to Chartier. Chartier tried a shot but it took another deflection – this time towards goal – and
Jordan Blair swooped in to finish it off. Less than three minutes remained, but the Scots answered right as the clock hit the final minute of play. Monmouth was able to spring a counterattack with IC out of position and Justin Seeley squared the ball to Max Daniels. Clearwater approached to cut down the angle but Daniels chipped him to send the match to an extra session.
In the 20 minutes of overtime, Illinois College outshot Monmouth, 5-2, but nothing could get by either keeper. The final chance came in the closing seconds when Clearwater came almost all the way to midfield to boot a ball back into the box for a final attempt on goal for the Blueboys.
Joe Tooley ended with possession in the box, but he was closed down with less than 15 seconds to go and there was no time to get a corner kick off before time expired.
Blair and Cearlock combined for half of IC's 12 shots in the match, with Tooley attempting two others. Clearwater ended with eight saves in 110 minutes of work.
Illinois College will close the 2015 season this weekend at Ripon College. The Blueboys and Red Hawks will meet on Oct. 31 at 1:30 p.m.
