JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team may have fallen in its season opener on Friday evening, but there were plenty of positives to take out of
Evan Philpott's first match in charge of the Blueboys. Dominican scored eight minutes into extra time and took home a golden goal victory, 1-0, on a close-range strike from Jonathan Hernandez over an outstretched
Raul Rubalcava to allow the Stars to escape with the victory.
Today's match was a repeat of last season's season opener which saw Dominican overwhelm the Blueboys in a 9-0 victory in suburban Chicago. While the Stars still produced many chances in the match, a combination of Rubalcava's play in goal as well as the dogged defending of an organized back line saw the visitors stymied again and again.
The freshmen of Illinois College set the tone early on as five made their debut in the starting lineup and stood toe-to-toe against the preseason favorites in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. An additional three freshmen came off the bench and provided a lift.
The best chance throughout most of the match came in the 10th minute when Dominican's Garrett Boston hit the crossbar and Rubalcava pulled in the rebound. As the match went further along, the Stars began to control play but it took overtime for the Blueboys to finally concede. The goal finally was scored in the 98th minute when Jonathan Hernandez finished off a run into the 18-yard box from Isaac Perez. Hernandez went upper 90 over Rubalcava who was at full stretch and nearly found himself in position to miraculously keep the match alive.
Though offensive chances were few and far between in the second half and overtime, Illinois College still ended with six shots in the match.
Brady O'Connell had two of those, both on frame.
Bryan Hamilton also had a pair of shots for the Blueboys.
Coming off of an impressive opening performance, Illinois College will look to build on it on Sunday afternoon, hosting Manchester University at England Stadium at 2 p.m.
