Despite trailing for nearly 78 minutes into the game Jaclyn Rucinsky and Heather Forsyth were able to push past the Oakland Grizzlies with a pair of goals to lead the Illinois State womens soccer team to a 2-1 victory in the Holiday Inn Classic.
At the half the Birds trailed 1-0, but came out strong in the second half taking 10 shots, nine of which were on goal. Oakland was able to keep the Birds scoreless well into the second half until the 78th minute of play when Jaclyn Rucinsky scored off a deflection to tie the game 1-1. The tying goal marked Rucinskys first on the season. The Birds who improved to 3-0, out shot Oakland 18-4, but did not have much success in the first half.
We took a lot of shots on goal, but werent connecting, said head soccer coach Pete Kowall. It took us well into the second half to finally get going and score. We would make two great plays and then on the third one we couldnt connect for the goal
The Birds finally gained the momentum and connected quickly to score two minutes later on a Heather Forsyth goal assisted by Meghan Boler to put the Birds up 2-1 for the win.
Oaklands Silje Peltopera recorded the lone goal for the Grizzlies moving the ball past goalkeeper Andrea Shaw with 15 minutes off the clock in the first half.
On Sunday the Birds will match up at 11:30 a.m. against the Central Michigan Chippewas for their final game in the Holiday Inn Classic.
