DECATUR, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team wrapped up non-conference play on Tuesday night with a 4-0 loss at Millikin University. The Blueboys and Big Blue played a scoreless opening 45 minutes, but Millikin scored four goals in a 22-minute span of the second half to pull away for the win. IC slips to 3-7-0 on the season.
The first half got off to a relatively slow start before
Mitchell Stonehouse was forced into a pair of saves on headers from Bradyn Nokes. With just over 18 minutes elapsed in the contest, a lightning strike forced a delay and sent both teams off the field. When the match resumed around 8:40 p.m., Millikin continued to put the Illinois College defense under pressure. Stonehouse was up to the challenge however, ending the half with six saves to keep it at 0-0 going to the break.
The sophomore keeper made a couple more saves in the opening minutes of the second half, but Mililkin finally broke through in the 52nd minute with a goal from Trey Knighton. Ten minutes later, the Big Blue doubled their lead as Takunda Jakachira scored on a header from Nokes. Knighton got his second of the night in the 63rd minute, and the outburst from Millikin finally came to an end in the 74th minute when Rudy Mathieson had his initial shot saved but scored on the rebound.
Ryan May had four of Illinois College's 10 shots in the match, putting two on frame to challenge Millikin keeper Isaac Hopper.
John Antoine added two shots for the Blueboys. Stonehouse ended the night with 11 saves, though he fell to 0-1-0 on the season.
The Blueboys host their first Midwest Conference match of the season on Saturday, welcoming in Lawrence University for an 11 a.m. first kick.
