JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team stared down one of the toughest goalkeeping performances they are likely to see all season and emerged with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn College on Wednesday night. Alex Hamerlinck tried single-handedly to keep his team in it, making 13 saves on the night to no avail. The win improves IC to 3-5-0 heading into its Midwest Conference opener.
Blackburn came out firing and a shot by Brandon Zeller within the first two minutes of the contest required a well-timed leap from
Raul Rubalcava to send the shot over the bar. Soon, Illinois College's superiority in keeping possession and creating chances became apparent. The Blueboys had a 14-2 edge in shots in the opening half and only some last-gasp defending by the Beavers kept
Ryan May from scoring in the 11th minute.
The opening goal came in the 22nd minute when
Spencer Bloome swung a cross in from the left flank and
Brock Ziegemeier nodded it over the line to give Illinois College the 1-0 lead. Rubalcava kept the Blueboys out in front with another tough save in the 28th minute to knock away a Jordan Allen shot and IC was able to take its 1-0 lead into the break.
The Beavers sent Illinois College a warning one minute into the second half when Jack McGrath banged a shot off the crossbar. Later on, Allen had another golden opportunity to score stifled by Rubalcava with a save in the 57th minute. The Blueboys spent a few minutes of the half on the back foot and needed to find an insurance goal, which finally came for them in the 64th minute. May started the chance with a shot on target that was knocked away by Hamerlinck. The ball then ricocheted out wide to
Brady O'Connell who swung his foot through but had the ball spin off-target and towards the front of goal where
Deon Washington stood. Amidst a crowd of defenders, Washington was able to put his head to the ball and sneak it past Hamerlinck to give his team a 2-0 advantage.
Normal service resumed after Illinois College took the two-goal lead, but Hamerlinck still managed to stand tall with six saves down the stretch to keep Blackburn in the match. Rubalcava did what was necessary on his end of the field to make sure that the Blueboys weren't challenged, making another nice save on Blackburn's lone shot on goal in the final minutes, a header from close range by Prince Balaba.
On the night, Illinois College enjoyed a 30-8 advantage in total shots and 12-6 in corner kicks. O'Connell, May and
Thomas Saitta all had four shots on the night for the Blueboys and
John Antoine added three.
Illinois College travels to Galesburg, Ill. on Saturday, taking on Knox College in the MWC opener for both teams at 11 a.m.
