Girls soccer: Uni clinches share of ECIC title with tie, win against Decatur teams

Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)Junior midfielder Michelle Wong (3) fights through Decatur Lutheran defenders in the Illineks' 1-1 tie with the Lady Lions on Thursday.

By Chris Yoder
Published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 2:36pm

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UPDATE ( April 28, 9:18 p.m.) — Today's varsity and JV games at Mahomet-Seymour were canceled because of bad weather and poor field conditions.

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Uni wrapped up its East Central Illinois Conference schedule last week by tying Decatur Lutheran 1-1 and beating Decatur Christian 7-0. Although the Illineks would have preferred to win both home games, the results guaranteed them at least a share of the ECIC title. Last year a 1-0 road loss to Decatur Lutheran gave Uni a 3-1 ECIC record and a second-place finish to the Lady Lions. This year the Illineks went 3-0-1 in conference play. Their overall record stands at 9-3-1 as they enter today's contest against Class 2A power Mahomet-Seymour. The girls also received some other good news last week when the IHSA seeded them No. 1 in the Class 1A Monticello regional. Uni will begin the playoffs 11 a.m. May 16 against the winner of the St. Thomas More vs. Decatur St. Teresa first-round match on May 12. In the meantime, here's a recap of last week's ECIC action.

Junior Elizabeth Russell gets ready to take aim against defending ECIC champion Decatur Lutheran. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

URBANA — The Illineks went into Thursday's home game against defending conference champion Decatur Lutheran unscored upon in their previous three contests.

They remained unscored upon by an opposing player, but a rare series of defensive mistakes caused Uni to give up an "own goal" to the Lady Lions, resulting in a 1-1 deadlock at DCR Complex, ending the Illineks' three-game winning streak.

Junior center midfielder Michelle Wong put Uni on the board in the eighth minute of the contest off an assist by classmate Elizabeth Russell. The goal was her ninth of the year.

"A well-played ball from the right wing set up the center midfielder for a strong run, with the ball,
directly toward the goal," said head coach Philip Anders, describing the score. "A misplayed defensive clearance was deflected into the back of the net by the advancing midfielder."

That turned out to be the only goal for the Illineks, although they outshot the Lady Lions 7-2 in the first half and 12-5 on the game.

Eight minutes into the second half, the visitors tied the game on the Uni own goal after a long throw-in and several defensive errors.

Senior goalkeeper Rachel Skoza made five saves while her Decatur Lutheran counterpart, Christi Rever, made 10. The Illineks had not allowed a single shot on goal, much less a score, in their previous three contests.

The game was also Uni's first Class 1A matchup of the season that did not end in a win, as the Illineks fell to 7-0-1 against such teams.

URBANA — Coming off Thursday's tie, the host Illineks went back to their high-scoring ways, defeating Decatur Christian 7-0 and clinching a share of the ECIC title.

The win improved Uni's overall record to 9-3-1 overall, and 3-0-1 in the conference. Now that Uni has played all their conference games, they are assured of no worse than a tie for the ECIC championship.

Neither team scored in the first 20 minutes, but the next 20 belonged to Uni. Junior center midfielder Erika Belmont netted three goals in the span of five minutes to give Uni a formidable 3-0 lead.

Belmont’s first goal came in the 23rd minute with an assist from freshman Abigail Radnitzer.

"A play moving across the top of a crowded penalty area gave Erika just enough room to take the clear shot from 12 yards out," Anders said.

Two minutes later, Belmont scored again, battling past three defenders after an assist from senior Joy Shapley. Just two minutes after that, Belmont scored again on an assist from classmate Michelle Wong. In total, the Illineks outshot Decatur 15-0 in the first half.

Uni continued the scoring barrage in the second half with scores by junior Katie Buzard (63rd minute, Belmont assist); Belmont again (66th minute, senior Anne Machesky assist); Wong (74th minute, sophomore Emma Coverdill assist); and Buzard again (77th minute, Shapley assist).

The Illineks outshot the Warriors 27-0 for the game. It was the third time this year that Uni had scored at least seven goals, the sixth in which they had scored at least six, and their eighth shutout of the season.

The Illineks have been dominating the top of The News-Gazette's area leader board in recent weeks.

Belmont is first in goals with 14. Senior keeper Rachel Skoza leads the area in goals-against average at 0.80, a testament to Uni's overall solid defense.

Four Uni players rank in the top six slots for assists: Belmont, Coverdill, Wong, and Shapley at nine, eight, eight and five, respectively.

The Illineks play their next game tonight against Class 2A Mahomet-Seymour. They will be without Skoza; the 6-1 senior suffered a leg injury playing basketball over the weekend and will be out indefinitely.

Uni has just four varsity games left before they begin the 1A playoffs May 16. Three of those opponents are 2A schools: Mahomet-Seymour, Mattoon, and Danville.

Junior forward Katie Buzard (left) chases down a Decatur Lutheran opponent. Sophomore forward Emma Coverdill (11) is in the background. Gargoyle photos by David Porreca (click any photo to enlarge and to create your own slideshow)