By: Ashley Sholmire struck from over 30 yards out for the tying goal late in the second half and IC held on for a 1-1 draw.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's soccer team fended off a challenge from Knox College on Tuesday evening to come away with a 1-1 draw in the Midwest Conference opener for the Lady Blues. IC moves to 3-4-1 (0-0-1 MWC), while Knox (7-1-1, 1-0-1 MWC) saw its six-match winning streak come to an end.
After playing national heavyweights Illinois Wesleyan and Washington University in St. Louis in its last two matches, Illinois College began the match on the back foot and too often ceded possession to Knox in dangerous areas. Ten of the 17 shots in the match for the Prairie Fire came in the first half and one of them was finally cashed in when Yvette Rodriguez scored in the 22nd minute.
Cat Solberg parried an initial shot from Jen Crary but the ball caromed directly to Rodriguez, who finished it off to give Knox a 1-0 lead at the break.
A different Illinois College team emerged in the second half and the Lady Blues almost drew level less than two minutes after the restart when
Maggie Sabo had a header fall just wide of the target off of a corner kick. Later on in the half,
Bianca Savarese was one-on-one with a defender but looked to shoot rather than lay off to an approaching
Ashley Sholmire. Savarese's effort on goal again went wide and the Lady Blues were left with the one-goal deficit with regulation time quickly dwindling away.
The tying goal from Sholmire materialized out of basically nothing. The sophomore striker attacked down the right wing with light pressure from the Knox defense. With no one filling the open channels, Sholmire let fly from over 30 yards out and her shot went over the outstretched arms of Sierra Daniger to tie the match at 1-1 with less than four minutes remaining.
In the two extra sessions, Illinois College managed to outshoot Knox 4-3 and put three of those shots on target, but Daniger kept the Lady Blues out of the back of the net and the 20 minutes elapsed without a winner.
Savarese led the Lady Blues with four shots in the match while Sholmire added three, with all three ending on frame. Solberg made six saves and the IC team defense made a team save against eight on-target shots from the Prairie Fire.
Illinois College goes on the road this weekend to face Cornell College (1-5-0, 0-1-0 MWC) in Mount Vernon, Iowa on Sept. 26 at 11 a.m.
