By: The Blue Jays piled on in the second half, turning a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 margin by the end.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team was dealt its first loss of the 2015 season on Sunday night by Westminster College (MO), 4-0, on a trio of second half goals from the Blue Jays. The Blueboys drop to 2-1-0 on the season with the defeat.
Despite the final margin, the first half was an entertaining affair with the teams locked in a scoreless battle past the 40-minute mark.
Ty Clearwater made a pair of saves to keep Westminster on the board and the best chance for much of the half came with Illinois College on the ball. A cross in from the left wing bounded through the box and came to
Alex Gardner who was stationed directly in front of goal. The pace of the ball had it moving past him before he could get around on it however, and his shot drifted to the right of the net, not troubling Westminster keeper Raul Belman.
The Blue Jays took the lead in the 42nd minute on a through ball that had Kevin Knobbe onside by the narrowest of margins. Drake Trease's pass played him in cleanly on Clearwater and he was able to get it past the Illinois College sophomore to put Westminster ahead at the break.
It got worse for IC just six minutes into the second half. Tripp Sheehan threw the ball deep into the box from the touch line and amid a flurry of bodies in front of the goal, Blake Hausman was able to just nick the ball over the line to beat Clearwater and make it 2-0.
If there was one moment when Illinois College had a chance to get back in it, it came in the 65th minute.
Joe Tooley pressed high against an unsettled Westminster defense and took the ball off a Blue Jay defender. Sprinting forward, he launched a shot at Belman that forced a save, but the ball caromed directly back to Tooley to shoot again. This time he couldn't react quickly enough to get on top of the ball and his shot sailed high over the goal.
Less than 10 minutes after that, Westminster had the goal that all but put the contest away. Cooper Smith drove his laces through a shot from the top of the 18-yard box past a number of IC defenders. The ball took a deflection on the way through and left Clearwater helpless as the score went to 3-0. Four minutes after that, Drew Cook took a shot from the left edge of the penalty area that hit the right post and settled in to the back of the net for the final margin of 4-0.
Westminster outshot Illinois College, 21-6, in the match. No other Blueboy besides Tooley had more than one shot in the contest. Clearwater ended his night with six saves.
Illinois College will try to get back to its winning ways on Sept. 9 with a non-conference matchup against Fontbonne University on the road in St. Louis. First kick is slated for 8 p.m.
