JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team was a little banged-up, a little fatigued, and a little outplayed on Sunday as visiting Elmhurst College defeated the Blueboys by a score of 4-0. Coming off of an overtime victory over Coe College on Saturday, IC's matchup with the fresh legs of the Blue Jays resulted in a one-sided affair in which Elmhurst enjoyed more than 60% of the possession and outshot the Blueboys, 29-2. Illinois College drops to 2-4-2 on the year with the loss.
The early stages of the match showed that Elmhurst was very capable of playing with attacking flair, but
Raul Rubalcava wasn't asked to do too much as the Blue Jays more often than not fired off-target. That storyline changed in the 18th minute when Illinois College had a giveaway in midfield and Elmhurst countered quickly with an incisive pass through the Blueboys back line where Keegan Thompson was waiting to slot home for a 1-0 lead.
Less than five minutes later, contact in the Illinois College 18-yard box resulted in a penalty kick being awarded to the Blue Jays. Thompson had Rubalcava guessing the wrong way as he went left for his second goal of the contest.
Elmhurst continued to have the bulk of possession in the second half and wasn't often troubled by any forward momentum from Illinois College. The lead grew to 3-0 in the 75th minute with a Eric Berezne goal and finally 4-0 in the 85th minute with Buddy Nelson hitting the crossbar but recovering to put the rebound away.
Rubalcava ended with four saves in the match. Shots for Illinois College came from
Bryan Hamilton and
Kyle Tucker.
The Blueboys return to England Stadium on Wednesday night looking to claim a Mayor's Cup point in a 7 p.m. contest against MacMurray College.
