JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's soccer team sent shockwaves through the Midwest Conference on Sunday afternoon, knocking off a Cornell College team that entered the match with three wins out of three matches to start MWC play. Behind goals from
Katie Elmore and
Chloe Kirbach, the Lady Blues defeated the Rams, 2-1, to improve to 6-7-0 (2-2-0 MWC).
In the early portion of the match, Cornell had the better run of play but couldn't capitalize on any of its six shots in the opening half-hour.
Lindsey Kormelink kept the Rams off the board with a pair of saves in that stretch. After a brief stoppage for an injury, a refreshed IC team scored from out of nowhere. Elmore's long-distance shot flew over the head of Elise Thomason-Larsen and settled into the far post to give the Lady Blues a 1-0 advantage on her team-best sixth goal of the season.
Cornell continued to pressure IC's defense and the Rams were finally rewarded with the equalizer in the 43rd minute. Sofia Schnur dribbled through a crowd and finally beat Kormelink with a near-post finish to tie the score heading into halftime.
It didn't take long for Illinois College to go back on top in the second half. A
Jenny Montelongo ball over the top exposed the Cornell back line and gave Kirbach the ball in a position to score. After working herself free from a pair of Ram defenders, she finished low at the far post to give the Lady Blues a 2-1 lead.
From there, the name of the game was defense for IC. Though the Lady Blues managed a stray counter-attack here or there, the main focus was on keeping Cornell from leveling the match again. A shot from Gabriella Garcia was saved off the line by a defender in the 58th minute, a shot from Georgia James hit the crossbar in the 69th minute and Kormelink made three saves when called upon.
Elmore ended with five shots in the match, all of which were on target. Kormelink picked up the win while making seven saves on the afternoon.
Illinois College will take to the road for more MWC action next weekend in Wisconsin. Before that is an Oct. 9 trip to Monmouth College, scheduled for 4 p.m.
