Sophomores Annie Wayland and Ty Winkelhake scored two goals each and jump-started the Illinois State soccer teams offense in a 5-0 shutout over Valley opponent Drury, Sunday afternoon, at Adelaide Street Field.
With the win, the Redbirds improve to 3-1 in conference play and 10-3 overall while Drury fell to 3-11-1 and 0-4 in the Valley. The Redbirds remain undefeated at home, which dates back for two seasons. ISU has not suffered a loss at Adelaide Street Field since 1998.
ISU and Valley leading scorer Annie Wayland got ISU on the board in the first when she posted her 13th goal of the season, gaining possession of the ball at the top of the goal box and taking a one-time shot past Drury goalie Sarah Reichert. The Drury offense remained intense for the rest of the half, as it outshot ISU 8-6 the first 45 minutes and Panther Jeanne Pierce missed an open-net shot at the three-minute mark.
The Birds came out stronger in the second, as Wayland notched her second goal of the day at 54:10 off a side pass from sophomore Melissa Colthrust. An more intense offensive style of play from ISU kept the Redbirds deep in the scoring zone, which resulted in two consecutive goals by sophomore Ty Winkelhake.
Two passes crossed from the left, the first from junior Megan OConnor and the second from freshman Katie Long, found Winkelhake open as she kicked it past the Drury goalie to the deep right corner, giving ISU the 4-0 cushion with 15 minutes left to play.
Long topped off the Birds scoring when she kicked the ball from approximately 20 feet out in front of the goalie, and found the opening at the top of the net between the goalies hands and the crossbar.
Senior Becky Feldmann and junior Jen Sandenaw each saw time between the posts during the match for ISU, notching a total of five saves on the day. Illinois State outshot the Panthers 21-14;, including 11 on goal.
Head coach Pete Kowall said after the match that his teams goal was to win the first half, which he says it accomplished right on task.
We came out and won the first half this game, we dominated and did what we have been trying to do all season, Kowall said. Somethings we did really well, somethings we just did well and other things we can do better, but I am just really happy with the outcome.
We switched up the lineup also, trying different players in different positions and we got scoring chances and capitalized on those, Kowall continued. The team has the depth to do that so we tried it today and it worked in our advantage.
ISU returns to action when it travels to Omaha, Neb., next Friday to take on Creighton in MVC action.
