JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team looked as potent as they have all season long in Saturday's season finale, but unfortunately a handful of defensive lapses proved to be too much to overcome in a 4-3 loss to Grinnell College. The Blueboys end their 2019 season at 6-12-2 overall.
The match was wide-open from the start and the scoring began in the fifth minute when
Justin Cozart tucked home a pass from
Bohlt Hamrick. Though IC had the early lead, it would last all of two minutes before the Pioneers equalized. Both the first and second goals for Grinnell were essentially identical, with Ray Doedeker putting away a back-post header after a cross from Mikoto Kobayashi.
The 2-1 lead for the Pioneers lasted only until the 25th minute. Illinois College pounced on a bounding ball in the center of the 18-yard box and Hamrick hammered it home from close range after
Collin Basler was able to play it to him. Again, that scoreline would change quickly. A free kick just outside the 18-yard box resulted in a low, curling free kick around the IC wall and past
Raul Rubalcava off the boot of Jasper Yang in the 26th minute. The 3-2 lead for the Pioneers would remain heading into halftime.
Early on in the second half,
Thomas Saitta picked the ball up in the midfield and dribbled toward Grinnell's goal unchallenged. From 25 yards, he picked out a corner and smashed it home past replacement goalkeeper John Riley O'Toole in the 52nd minute to knot the score up at 3-3.
Though the referee had tried to control the first half by giving out three yellow cards, the chippiness in the match picked up with the score tied. Finally, after Grinnell had taken the lead back in the 82nd minute off of Yang's second goal of the match, tensions boiled over. Both Saitta and Hamrick were given straight red cards in the final minutes. Reduced to nine men, Illinois College couldn't mount much of a challenge and the Pioneers were able to escape with the win.
Rubalcava ended his day with eight saves. He wraps up 2019 with 177 on the season, the third-most in a single season in program history.
Brady O'Connell led the Blueboys on the afternoon with three of the team's nine total shots.
Of Illinois College's starting 11 on Saturday, eight were seniors playing in their final match for the Blueboys. Besides Cozart, Saitta, Hamrick, O'Connell and Basler, the starting lineup also featured
Brock Ziegemeier,
Kyle Tucker and
Isaiah Smith.
