By: Despite attempting only five shots in the match, Illinois College got all the offense it needed on a goal within the first nine minutes and added some insurance on late in a 2-0 victory.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team opened their 2015 account with a match that mirrored the style of play that made the 2014 version of the squad so successful. With a hard-to-breakdown defense and an opportunistic offense, the Blueboys nabbed Head Coach
Kurt Albrecht a victory in his first match in charge with a 2-0 defeat of Webster University on Tuesday night.
The teams were still feeling each other out in the first 10 minutes of the match when
Alex Gardner simply outhustled the Webster defense to put Illinois College on top.
Brock Chartier had control of the ball in the midfield and lofted a hopeful pass ahead toward the Webster goal. Goalkeeper Alex Bergmann made a half-hearted attempt to come away from his net to retrieve, but Gardner raced past a Gorlok defender and leaped to get a foot on the ball, sending Chartier's pass goal-bound before slamming into Bergmann.
The lead for Illinois College nearly grew to 2-0 within the next five minutes. A free kick followed by a throw-in had the Blueboys bunched in front of the Gorlok goal once again and this time a pass from the sideline by Gardner was perfectly placed against a collapsing Webster defense.
Ben Cochran leaped and smashed a header that left the Gorlok defense helpless, but the shot went just high of the crossbar to keep the match at 1-0.
Webster responded in the second half with a couple of golden chances that slipped away. The first came off a deflected shot that fell to the feet of Zach Gyuricza. Only a clearance off the line by an IC defender kept the Blueboys in front. As the match moved into the 70th minute, Tyler Bayne was able to run up onto a failed clearance by IC and uncork a shot from the center of the field that rattled the crossbar but bounced away.
Just moments later, Illinois College was in the clear.
Anthony Willard latched onto a careless Webster turnover on the right wing and had a moment to gather himself before sending a shot from 30 yards over the head of a flailing Bergmann and putting the Blueboys up, 2-0. Chances for the Gorloks to get back into the match in the final minutes were few and far between as the IC defense clamped down to maintain the shutout.
Though Webster held a 15-5 advantage in shots in the contest, Illinois College goalkeeper
Ty Clearwater needed only three saves to earn the clean sheet. Cochran led IC with a pair of shots in the match, while Willard, Gardner and
Jojo Comstock had the others for the Blueboys.
Illinois College will continue a season-opening home stand on September 5 with a 7 p.m. match against Coe College at England Stadium.
