EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Mother Nature did not make it easy for Illinois State and Evansville to finish Saturday afternoon's Missouri Valley Conference season opener, as numerous 30-minute lightning delays lengthened the women's soccer game which spanned four hours and seven minutes. Likewise, the Purple Aces didn't make it easy for the `Birds to score, using stingy defense and a two-goal, first-half lead that propelled Evansville over ISU in a 2-0 victory.
Illinois State moves to 3-5-2 on the year, 0-1 in MVC action. Evansville improves to 5-4, 1-0-0 in the Valley.
An early Evansville goal put the Aces on the board in the game's eighth minute. A pass from Heidi Grey at midfield found forward Mia Tofano who took on Illinois State defender Amanda Lauber, dribbling towards the Redbird goal. Tofano beat Lauber, taking a shot from 18 yards out, sending the ball past ISU goalie Erica Goethel for an easy Purple Aces score, giving Evansville a 1-0 lead.
Just three minutes later, Tofano gave the `Birds a scare again, booting a shot from the inside box that struck off the crossbar, preventing an Evansville two-goal lead.
Play was then transferred to Illinois State's offensive side of the field, as senior Meghan Boler took the Redbirds first shot of the game at the 13:53 mark. Boler's shot was saved by Evansville's goalkeeper Whitney Raeon. Soon after, the `Birds were awarded a pair of corner kicks but couldn't convert either into a goal as the game went into the 17th minute.
Evansville did take that first-half 2-point lead as forward Kayla Lambert netted her seventh goal on the season. At the 22:25 mark, Lambert took a pass from Julie Winkler, shooting the ball past Goethel for the Purple Aces' second goal of the half, as the teams went into halftime with Evansville leading 2-0.
Illinois State took just five shots in the half, led by Carrie Schurr with two. Two of ISU's first-half shots were on goal, compared to five of Evansville's shots on goal. The Purple Aces booted nine shots in the opening period, led by Kayla Lambert's four.
After a pair of 30-minute lightning delays that postponed the start of the second half until 2 p.m., the Redbirds came out with an offensive intensity unseen in the first half. Illinois State took a pair of corner kicks in the first minute of the second half, though they could only get a single shot off, taken by freshman Ammanda Wisniewski.
A third 30-minute delay was imposed at the 37:20 mark in the second half when lightning was spotted to the south of Black Beauty Field but both team cleared the field for the better part of two hours as lightning was continued to be seen.
Play resumed at 3:29 p.m., but neither the `Birds or the Aces found any offensive production, as the teams played the remaining 37 minutes with no additional scores.
"After the weather delay, I thought we came out and played through the final minutes of the game," said Kowall. "It's never fun, we were just waiting around for a decision to be made. I think that our players handled it the best that we could."
The Redbirds ended the game with 12 shots and five corner kicks, as Evansville took 14 shots, with three corners.
Goethel recorded the loss in goal for the `Birds, recording five saves for ISU.
"I think their two forwards [Tofano and Lambert] are the two best forwards we have played against all year long," said head coach Pete Kowall.
"Having said that, I don't think I prepared my team well enough for what we would see against Evansville. I didn't do a good job of motivating them or preparing them for today. We need to worry about tactics and techniques, and get our players better chances to score."
