Soccer
The Abingdon-Avon High School soccer team played their first match in school history last night at Pattee Field in Monmouth. The Tornadoes, led by Sean Foster, took on the Monmouth-Roseville Titans. The Titans are two seasons removed from placing second in the state of Illinois in class 1A in 2017. A-Town put up a valiant fight, but the host Titans broke loose after halftime to post a 4-0 victory. Thanks to very athletic play by goalkeeper Tylor Minor, the Tornadoes battled to a 0-0 halftime tie. Included among Miller’s four first-half saves was a diving stop of an M-R penalty kick. In the second half, four different Titans found the net. Martin Arteaga notched the first tally, putting a loose ball past Miller a little more than six minutes into the half. Zemi Ismaili doubled the advantage 10 minutes later, converting a cross from Emmanuel Kitengae. With 17:53 left in the game, Darbin Garcia gave the Titans a 3-0 lead, knocking home a rebound of a shot that had bounced off an Abingdon defender. Jovanni Vazquez completed the scoring when his high shot to the upper 90 slipped through the hands of goalie Isaac Sampson, who had come into the game when Miller moved to forward. Miller wound up with both of Abingdon’s shots as the Titans held a 37-2 advantage in that department.
Volleyball
The Monmouth-Roseville Titans got their season off to a great start with a straight set, 25-20, 25-14 non-conference win over West Hancock. The West Central Conference North Division teams will only count the second match up of the season in the division standings. Stat leaders for Monmouth-Roseville were Carly Gillen with 8 kills, 7 blocks, 11 digs and five service points. Ryley Huston had 9 kills and six digs. Delaney Woodard handed out 14 assists. The Titans will open their home season tomorrow night against Mercer County and Thursday vs. Knoxville before traveling to Western Illinois University for the Macomb Invitational on Saturday.
The United Red Storm also started their season off with a dominating 25-12, 25-10 win over BPC. No details were found for this one. Elsewhere, it was Annawan over Morrison 25-14, 25-11, Wethersfield beating Putnam County 25-23, 25-22 and Brimfield defeated Williamsfield in three sets. Leaders for Williamsfield were Molly Warner with 10 digs and eight kills and Katelyn Aldred with 5 blocks.
Golf
The United Red Storm boys golf team went (1-1) vs. Kewanee and Annawan/Wethersfield at Baker Park in Kewanee. The Storm beat A/W 178-200 but fell to Kewanee 173-178. Drew Brown led United with a 39. He was joined in the scoring column by Dyhlan Hepner and Evan Wynne with 46’s and Caleb Copeland with a 47.
Cross Country
Farmington High School hosted their annual Farmer Invitational last night. Several local schools took part, including United, Knoxville and BPC/WP. Knoxville won the girl’s side with 44 points. United was 4th and BPC/WP was 6th. United did claim the girl’s individual champ with Anne Gregory bettering the field by 20 seconds over runnerup Breena Shreeves from Knoxville. Shreeve’s teammates Mackenzie Rader and Bailey Harris were also in the top-10 at 4th and 5th, respectively. United also got a top-10 individual placement from Bridget Brokaw in 7th. Abingdon-Avon’s best finish came from Natalie Kern in 27th place. In the boy’s division, Princeville was the team champ with 40 points. Knoxville took 3rd and United was 7th. Christian Hensley was 4th for Knoxville. Devin Suggitt from Bushnell-Prairie City/West Prairie was 7th. Ben McVey led United, crossing the finish line in 32nd place. His teammates Jacob Bentz and Connor Thompson were 34th and 35th.
Junior High
The ICS Trojan junior high baseball team lost to Annawan/Wethersfield 9-4 last night at the Field of Dreams in Monmouth. The Trojans fell behind 9-0 after three innings and could not recover. Tyler Jones had two hits to lead ICS.
