By: Brock Ziegemeier scored two goals and Ty Clearwater picked up his third clean sheet of the season on Wednesday.
Box Score
CARLINVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team won its third match of the season via a shutout following a 3-0 decision over Blackburn College on Wednesday evening. The win improves the Blueboys to 3-2-0 on the season.
Blackburn put Illinois College on the defensive early in the match, forcing a save from
Ty Clearwater in the second minute and earning three corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of the match. The Blueboys finally registered their first shot in the 20th minute when
Roger Mies fired high, but a goal soon followed. Substitute
Brady O'Connell scored his first goal of the season with the assist by
Nick Copley to put IC ahead in the 22nd minute. Though more chances presented themselves to the Blueboys, Blackburn was able to hang on and trail just 1-0 at the break.
The match remained competitive throughout the second half and the O'Connell goal was still all that separated the two teams through the first 75 minutes of play. Finally, Illinois College was able to score a vital second goal to gain some separation from the Beavers in the 77th minute on an unassisted goal from
Brock Ziegemeier.
Less than four minutes later, Ziegemeier added his second goal of the night – again an unassisted effort – to push the lead up to 3-0. Blackburn had one excellent chance before the end, but the shot from Zeke Jackson hit the crossbar, keeping the Beavers off the scoreboard and giving IC its third shutout of the season.
Illinois College had a 13-11 edge in total shots in the match, including an 8-4 margin in shots on goal. Mies ended with four shots (three on goal), Ziegemeier had three shots (two on goal), and
Jonny Inez-Rodriguez had two shots (one on goal). Clearwater ended with four saves on the day.
Illinois College comes home to England Stadium on Sept. 16 for a 2:30 p.m. non-conference match with Concordia University (Chicago).
