By: After falling behind in the 12th minute, the Blueboys tied the match in the 72nd minute and held on for a draw from there.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team improved throughout the match and came away with a 1-1 draw against former conference rival Carroll University on Sunday afternoon at England Stadium. The Blueboys went down a goal in the first half but came back to tie the match midway through the second half.
Carroll came out the aggressors in the match and forward Austin Schulze forced an early save by
Ty Clearwater before skimming a shot just wide two minutes later. The Pioneers broke through to get the lead in the 12th minute after a corner kick. Tlaloc Huerta latched onto the ball after it bounded around the 18-yard box and delivered a precise strike from the left-hand side of the area that hit the right post and went in to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Blueboys began to show some more life after substitutions came onto the field and
Brock Chartier,
Mesfin Lenth and
Alexis Zazueta would all force saves from Nick Drew before the first half was over.
In the second half, Illinois College began to press the Pioneers much higher up the field and the change in tactics gave the Blueboys new life.
Brock Ziegemeier nearly scored with six minutes gone in the second half as he worked his way free in the box but sent a header directly at Drew. Just a few minutes later, Zazueta had an effort go just high over the bar.
The tying goal came in the 72nd minute as
Brock Chartier and
Ryan May worked in tandem to move the ball into Carroll's final third. Ziegemeier then got an inch of space in the center of the box and re-directed a deflected cross into the back of the net to tie the score at 1-1.
The remainder of the match showed few scoring opportunities for either side. When called upon, Clearwater made two saves late in the second half and in overtime to keep the score level.
Illinois College returns to action on Sept. 20 with a non-conference matchup at Greenville College beginning at 7 p.m. Midwest Conference action gets underway next weekend with a road trip to St. Norbert and Lawrence.
