JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois College men's soccer team continued Midwest Conference play by hosting Knox College Tuesday night. The Blueboys improve to 2-0 in conference play after defeating the Prairie Fire by the final score of 5-1. IC now stands at 7-3 overall and in a first-place tie with Cornell College in the MWC standings.
In the ninth minute, IC's
Tyler Schiltz intercepted a pass from a Knox defender and found
Toby Ybarra near the box. Ybarra took one dribble around the defender and netted a goal that gave IC the early 1-0. Knox responded with a goal in the 36th minute on a free kick from Swen Van der Weijden. In the final minutes of the first half, IC's
Eric Espinoza was fouled in the box by a Knox defender that rewarded a penalty kick. IC's
Albert Nimako netted the pentalty kick that took the 2-1 lead into halftime.Â
The Blueboys came out very aggressive on offense in the second half and broke open the game. IC scored three goals within the 55 minute mark in the match. In the 50th minute,
Reed Rogers extended the IC lead to 3-1 with his fifth goal of the season. Two minutes later, Rogers sent in a spectacular corner kick when
Jives Efemini headed the ball in the net for the 4-1 lead and his first goal of the season. In the 55th minute, Ybarra stripped a shot just outside the 18-yard marker on the for his second goal of the night. Â
IC held a strong defensive stand led by defenders
Brock Kennell,
Thomas Menke, and Nimako as IC held Knox to only five shots in the match. Â
The Blueboys will continue MWC play with a visit to Grinnell College on Saturday, October 7th at 1:30 PM in Grinnell, Iowa.
