By: Though four of the team’s five shots were on target, Illinois College couldn’t sneak one in, falling to Ripon, 3-0.
Box Score
RIPON, Wis. – The Illinois College women's soccer team was shutout by Ripon College by Saturday by a score of 3-0. The Lady Blues had four shots on goal, but Miye Aoki-Kramer stopped each one to preserve the clean sheet. Ripon moves to 9-3-0 (3-2-0 Midwest Conference), while IC slips to 3-12-0 (1-4-0 MWC).
The game-winning goal came early on as Paige Pierce's ninth of the season in the eighth minute put the Red Hawks on top, 1-0. A through ball from Meghan McCarthy carved up the Illinois College defense and Pierce hit the left corner to put the home team out in front.
The Lady Blues nearly had the score knotted less than five minutes later, but
Mackenzie Bedgood's shot rang the crossbar and stayed out. Both she and
Ashley Sholmire forced saves from Aoki-Kramer in the next few minutes, but things got more difficult for IC when Pierce scored her 10th goal of the season in the 30th minute.
In the second half, Sholmire and Bedgood again had efforts on goal that were saved. Meanwhile,
Charlotte Crofton did her part to try to keep the Lady Blues close. The sophomore keeper made eight saves in the first half and six more in the second half. Ripon put the match away with less than three minutes to go when Maeve Kim tapped home a rebound to make it 3-0.
Due to the poor weather occurring throughout much of the Midwest and especially in Wisconsin, tomorrow's match between Illinois College and Beloit College had to change venues. The Lady Blues and the Buccaneers will meet at Sportscore in Rockford, Ill. The match was originally set for 11 a.m., but because the fields will be used throughout the day, the IC match will now begin at 8 a.m.
