By: The Blueboys recorded their third tie of the season on Wednesday against Millikin – all of which have come at England Stadium.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team put together one of its best efforts of the season on Wednesday, battling Millikin University, a solid CCIW program, to a 1-1 standstill. The draw was the third in three home matches for the Blueboys on the season. Illinois College is now 1-8-3 while the Big Blue move to 7-3-2.
In the opening 45 minutes of play, Millikin had an 11-3 shot advantage on the Blueboys, but IC led where it mattered most after a 32nd minute strike from
Ryan May put Illinois College on top. May came down the right wing and beat Big Blue goalkeeper Trevor Creek at the near post to give the Blueboys a 1-0 lead.
Ty Clearwater kept IC in front with four saves in the first half.
Illinois College maintained the lead until the 71st minute when a foul gave Millikin a free kick. Chris Clay lined it up and delivered a cross into the box where Bradyn Nokes outjumped a defender and nodded home past Clearwater to knot the score at 1-1.
The Big Blue had a 19-7 advantage in shots going into overtime, but the tenor of the match changed in the two extra sessions. Over the final 20 minutes, Illinois College outshot Millikin, 10-1, nearly winning the match on a couple of occasions.
On a free kick in the 102nd minute,
Justin Hill had nearly perfect placement and it took a diving effort from Creek to keep the shot out. After the Big Blue allowed a corner kick,
Alexis Zazueta headed towards goal where the Millikin back line made a team save to deny the game-winner. Within seconds, the ball came out to
Roger Mies who hit the post. That was the best chance for either team in overtime, though a clock stoppage with less than five seconds left allowed every Millikin player to pour forward into the box and resulted in a mad scramble as the cross tracked through the 18-yard box before the final whistle.
Clearwater ended the night with eight saves, while May's goal was his team-leading fourth of the season. May ended with four shots, two of which were on goal, and
Brock Chartier added four, one of which was on goal.
Illinois College continues its home stand this weekend, facing Ripon College on Oct. 15 at 1 p.m.
