By: After surviving an onslaught from the Blue Jays in the first half, the Lady Blues stole the match away with two goals after halftime.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The hardest thing to do in soccer is score goals, but some teams make it look easier than others. Despite outshooting the Illinois College Lady Blues, 14-0, in the first half, Westminster College (MO) went into halftime locked in a 0-0 stalemate. When the Lady Blues finally were able to send a shot in on goal, they didn't miss. An
Ashley Sholmire free kick in the 50th minute put Illinois College on top of Westminster in the second half and
Bianca Savarese added a second about 15 minutes later to seal it for the Lady Blues in a 2-0 win that improved the team to 2-1-0 on the season.
The ball rarely left the Westminster attacking zone in the first half. With the Illinois College offense scuffling, it was up to
Cat Solberg and the back line to keep the Lady Blues in it. In facing those 14 first half shots, Solberg made five saves and defenders blocked two others. IC also dealt with six corner kicks from the Blue Jays in the opening 45 minutes without a single one to challenge Westminster's Ellen Woolsey on the other end.
Illinois College emerged from the locker room re-focused and went to work breaking down the Blue Jay defense. An innocuous foul call on Westminster against Savarese gave the Lady Blues a free kick from about 30 yards out early on in the second half and Sholmire stood over the ball against a two-woman wall from the Blue Jays. Easily clearing the first threat, the ball seemed to hover in mid-air and Woolsey was practically frozen in the six-yard box as it sailed over her head and settled in the back corner.
It was far from over at that point because Westminster continued its assault on the Illinois College goal. The Blue Jays had eight more shots in the second half that required an additional three saves from Solberg to preserve the shutout, including a highlight-reel save leaping to her left and using one arm to push a shot attempt up and over the crossbar.
With their second shot attempt of the night, the Lady Blues again deposited the ball in the back of the net.
Sarah Stover chipped a ball over the Westminster defense to a sprinting Savarese who jetted past a pair of Blue Jay defenders. Charging towards the goalie, Savarese beat her to her left and made it 2-0 with less than 25 minutes remaining.
Though IC would manage only two shot attempts the rest of the way, the offense had done all the work it needed on the night. Solberg earned her second straight shutout and capped a perfect weekend from the Lady Blues.
Illinois College will go off in search of its third straight win on Sept. 9 when it travels to Fontbonne University. The Lady Blues and Griffins will get underway at 6 p.m. in St. Louis.
