By WJBC Staff
NORMAL – The Illinois State soccer team dominated Indiana State, 4-0, Friday night at Adelaide Street Field. The Redbirds are now 1-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play and improved their overall record to 5-5-1, as they head into their second home game of the weekend on Sunday afternoon.
“We only have six conference games a year so getting off on the right foot, getting a victory in the first one, at home, scoring four goals, getting a shutout, those are all really great things,” head coach Eric Golz said. We’re off to a really good start…We know our remaining five conference games are going to challenge us.”
After a slow start, the Redbirds went back-to-back-to-back with three unanswered goals in the first half. In the 17th minute, junior Kelli Zickert capitalized on a free kick off a foul by Indiana State outside the top of the 18, putting the Redbirds up early 1-0.
In the 33rd minute, Zickert had a high cross that connected with freshman Mikayla Unger. Unger got past a defender to slide the ball in the bottom right corner of the net making the score 2-0.
Continuing the momentum, senior Brianne Richards connected with junior Emily Dickman off a cross. Dickman was able to get it past the keeper with a touch to the far post in the 35th minute, extending the Redbird’s lead to 3-0.
ISU continued the streak in the second half, opening with a goal by senior Lauren Koehl in the 64th minute. Koehl cut past two defenders and chipped the ball top left corner making the Redbirds lead 4-0.
The Redbirds finished strong with a total of 20 shots and nine corner kicks. Freshman goalkeeper Haley Smith had a season-high nine saves between the pipes.
“We just need to make sure we’re prepared to perform well mentally and physically on Sunday. We are looking forward to continuing to get better each weekend,” said Golz.
The Redbirds return to action Sunday at Adelaide Street Field to host IUPUI for Senior Day and Reggie’s Kids Club Day. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
