The Monmouth College women’s soccer team took the lead with less than 17 minutes to play but ended up drawing 1-1 against Illinois College on Wednesday. The draw puts the Scots at 0-4-1 in Midwest Conference action and 3-9-1 overall while IC is now 0-12-2 overall and 0-5-1 in MWC play.
Neither team scored in the strong winds of the first half. Monmouth took eight shots in the first 45 minutes while the Lady Blues took four. Freshman goalkeeper Bronte de Zwart (Adelaide, Australia) had two saves in the half.
With 20 minutes to play, the game was still 0-0. Monmouth midfielder Madison Walker (Mount Vernon, Illinois) crossed midfield and passed the ball to Sam Koppers (Tinley Park, Illinois). Koppers hit it right back to Walker at the top of the box and the junior perfectly placed the ball past the IC keeper into the right side of the goal for a 1-0 Scots lead. The goal, Walker’s 10th of the season, came with 16:41 to play. She is the 21st player in school history to have at least 10 goals in a season.
The Scots had a chance to double the lead just a few moments later but shot high. With just under nine minutes to play, Illinois College got a free kick near midfield. The free kick carried into the box and took a weird deflection off a Lady Blues player and into the bottom corner of the net. The goal tied the game with 8:33 to play. Both teams had chances at a winner in the final eight minutes but neither team scored again.
“We would have loved to finish that one off, but nonetheless I’m proud of this group,” said coach Lucas Henderson “With six freshmen in the starting XI today it is clear we’re growing in the right direction.”
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Illinois College outshot the Scots 20-12 in the game and shots on goal were 11-5 in favor of the visitors. IC had four corners to just one for the Scots. De Zwart made a career-high 10 saves for Monmouth. Walker passed Makalya Shaw (2016-19) for 19th on the Scots career points list with 34. She had three of the Scots five shots on goal. Nine Monmouth players played all 90 minutes and only one subsitute was used. Monmouth is next in action at Beloit on Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
