By: For the second match in a row, senior Alex Gardner propelled Illinois College to an overtime victory with a golden goal.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – A night at England Stadium that was at times frustrating for the Illinois College men's soccer team ended with a familiar exclamation point as
Alex Gardner scored eight minutes into the first extra session to give the Blueboys a 2-1 overtime win over a scrappy Greenville College side. IC now stands at 5-2-0 on the season with one final non-conference match left to play.
Illinois College went into halftime with an 8-5 lead in shots, but the Blueboys were probably fortunate to have played to a 0-0 stalemate. A shot by Greenville's Caleb Mulholland inside of six minutes was well-struck after a cutback from a Panther teammate left him free in the middle of the box.
Ty Clearwater did well to corral the shot and keep Greenville off the scoreboard. An even better chance came for Greenville's Elliot Thompson in the 21st minute. A Panther sent in a low pass across the face of goal and it eluded Clearwater to find Thompson on the right post. Almost any touch would have put it in the back of the net, but somehow Thompson flubbed his lines and the ball skidded wide of the target.
A number of Illinois College shots in the first half were blocked by a solid Greenville defense, but
Roger Mies uncorked a howler in the 30th minute. Only a leaping effort from Panther keeper Ian Hodge kept the Blueboys from taking a one-goal lead. Later on,
Nick Copley was robbed of a goal by a Greenville defender who cleared his shot off the line to keep the match level at the break.
Both goalkeepers stayed busy in the early part of the second half. More than 20 minutes elapsed before Illinois College caught a break on a handball in the box on Greenville. Though Hodge guessed the right way on
Brock Chartier's penalty, the IC midfielder powered the ball home to put the Blueboys up in the 67th minute.
The match would take another twist five minutes later. After a Greenville corner, the ball came out top to Thompson. His shot from 20 yards deflected off of teammate Jonny Madrid and trickled past Clearwater after the IC keeper was left helpless after the ricochet. The game remained fairly open the rest of regulation, but the majority of shots came from distance and didn't do much to trouble either goalkeeper as extra time would be needed to determine a winner.
Thompson had the first shot of overtime in the 96th minute but Clearwater made the stop to keep the match alive. In the 98th minute, the Blueboys streamed forward with
Mesfin Lenth over the ball on the right wing. With the Panther defense in full retreat, Lenth delivered a pass across the box to Gardner and his shot went low and left to beat Hodge for the winner. It was the second straight golden goal for Gardner after he gave Illinois College the victory over Hendrix College on Sunday afternoon.
Luke Davis led IC with four shots in the match, one of which was on target. Mies added three shots with two on frame. The Blueboys ended with a 23-12 edge in shots in the match. Clearwater ended with eight saves to get his fifth win of the season.
Illinois College will be in Jacksonville but on the road on Sept. 21, traveling across town to take on MacMurray College. The Blueboys and Highlanders will get started at 4 p.m.
