NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State soccer team has made a habit of making history. One year after becoming the first Missouri Valley Conference team to win a NCAA Tournament match, the Redbirds advanced to the second round again, winning a program-record 16 games.
ISU's season came to a close Friday in Los Angeles, California, with a 4-0 loss to Pepperdine. The Redbirds got their first true win in the NCAA Tournament with a 3-2 win over South Florida in the first round. ISU finished the 2014 season with a 16-6-0 overall record, including an 8-0 record against Valley competition.
For the 10th time in school history the Redbirds were crowned MVC regular season champions and for the second season in a row they went a perfect 6-0 in league play. The Redbirds then hosted the MVC Tournament for the first time in school history and won their sixth MVC Tournament title with a 2-1 win over Evansville.
Among the highlights of the season were the new lights installed at Adelaide Street Field. On Oct. 30, ISU closed out the regular season under the lights against Idaho. In primetime for the first time in Normal, the Redbirds torched the back of the net for a resounding 8-0 victory.
Once again, Drew Roff did not shy away from some of the nation's top competition during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Redbirds faced No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 25 DePaul, Boston College and Baylor within a three week stretch.
The Redbirds went to the half tied with A&M before falling 4-1 and then had a lead on DePaul. On Sept. 14, ISU welcomed Baylor to town and won 2-1 in overtime. In one of the many highlights of Rachel Tejada's season, she netted the game-winning goal, which was the 59th of her career.
Tejada would go on to break the all-time MVC goals and assists record before season's end and she finished her career with 190 points on 74 goals and 42 assists. Her 190 points rank 25th all-time in Division I. She also graduates as the active career leader among Division I athletes in points and goals.
Tejada showed up when it mattered most, netted a record-tying four goals against Missouri State in the MVC semifinals and then scoring a goal in the championship match. She scored two and assisted another in the first round against USF and finished the season with 20 goals and 11 assists.
As with past seasons, the awards piled up for Tejada. She was named the MVC Player of the Year for the fourth-consecutive year, First Team All-MVC, MVC Tournament MVP, MVC All-Scholar Athlete selection and a CoSIDA Academic All-District V selection.
While Tejada spearheaded the ISU attack, she was helped by several others. Hannah Leinert turned in a solid campaign with 11 goals and seven assists. Through two seasons she has 27 goals and 13 assists, numbers that already place her in the top ten of those categories at ISU.
The Redbirds were injected with more offense from the freshmen tandem of Kelli Zickert and Emily Dickman. Zickert, the MVC Freshman of the Year came on late in the season and netted five goals while dishing out five assists. Dickman scored six goals in a reserve role and three were game-winners.
Dagny Olson was also in double-digit points with four goals and five assists. As a team, the Redbirds broke the program record with 58 goals, averaging 2.64 goals per game.
On the defensive side, goalkeeper Aryn Newsom set records of her own. Newsom finished her career with 50 wins in the net, setting a new program record. She also became just the second keeper in ISU history to pass 300 saves and is second on the all-time saves list. Her 22 career shutouts also rank second on the all-time career list.
ISU's defense, along with Newsom, put together another solid season, giving up two goals in six Valley games. For the year, ISU had a 1.23 goals against average and posted eight shutouts.
The Redbirds were 10-1 at Adelaide Street Field and were over .500 on the road with a 5-4 record.
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