By: Illinois College nearly made it to halftime in a scoreless tie, but the Red Hawks got on the board late in the first half and the floodgates opened in the closing 45 minutes.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's soccer team hung in with Midwest Conference power Ripon College much of the way, but the Red Hawks tallied a goal just before halftime and added three more in the second half to come away with a 4-0 victory over the Lady Blues on Saturday at England Stadium. The Red Hawks up their mark to 13-0-1 (4-0-1 MWC) on the year, while IC slides to 6-7-1 (3-3-0 MWC).
The Lady Blues matched Ripon shot for shot much of the way through the first half. The Red Hawks were scorers of 55 goals entering the day, but IC showed as much offensive invention as Ripon did for the early portion of the match. When called upon,
Samantha Vacek was there with three saves in the first 45 minutes to keep IC level. It all finally changed in the 43rd minute as Paige Birschbach latched onto a long ball over the top from Paige Pierce and scored her 21st goal of the season to make it 1-0 at the break.
Illinois College pressed for a tying goal early in the second half.
Ashley Sholmire launched three shots and
Olivia Dobbs forced a save from the Ripon goalkeeper, but the Red Hawks remained in front. Ripon then doubled its lead in the 64th minute as Birschbach scored a header off of a corner kick delivered by Abbie Maule. Birschbach completed her hat trick in the 75th minute as she hit the left-side netting from the right side of the box to beat Vacek and make it 3-0. In the 78th minute, the Red Hawks iced the match with a Kate Kabacinski goal on a through ball from Birschbach.
Vacek ended the match with six saves. Sholmire took six of the 12 shots in the match for Illinois College, while Dobbs added three.
Illinois College continues MWC play tomorrow with a 1:30 p.m. match at home against Beloit College.
