After a first half that had the teams deadlocked in a 1-1 tie, the Redbird defense shut down the Drury offense in the second half while the offense put in four more goals to help Illinois State cruise to a 5-1 victory over the Panthers in Springfield, Missouri.
We had a lot of chances in the first half that we couldnt capitalize on and then they came down once on us and scored, said head coach Pete Kowall. I think their goal in the first half kind of woke us up, because in the second half we created more chances to score and finished them.
With 34:34 left in the first half, junior Annie Wayland scored her sixth goal of the season on an unassisted shot. The Panthers responsed three minutes later with a goal from sophomore Meghan Kelly off an assist from senior Lotte Reijmers.
The second half saw the Illinois State defense hold Drury to only one shot on goal, while the Redbirds capitilized on four of their five shot attempts. Sophomore Katie Long had two goals in the second half with both coming off headers. Sophomores Diana Puckett and Tiffany DeClark contributed the other two second half goals, both on unassisted shots.
The Redbird victory was Kowalls 100th career win as a head coach.
The girls presented me with a giant cookie after the game, mentioned Kowall. It was nice. Throughout my career, I have been blessed to work with such great players that have so much talent and desire to succeed.
The Redbirds are now 6-3 overall, 2-0 in the Missouri Valley. Drury falls to 3-6 overall and 0-1 in the Valley. Illinois State continues action Sunday, October 7, at Southwest Missouri State at 1 p.m.
