Southern’s soccer team loses 3-0 to Redbirds

The Saluki women’s soccer team (0-5-3, 0-4-3 MVC) were defeated 3-0 by the Illinois State Redbirds (4-5, 4-3 MVC) in their second to last game of the regular season.

Illinois State led SIU in shots (18-7), shots on goal (10-1), and corner kicks (7-2) while Southern led in saves 7-1.

“I’m really proud of our kids’ performance and anyone who watched the game would know the margin between us and them is not three goals but that’s what the score line reads,” head coach Grant Williams said.

Advertisement

Both teams remained scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the first half although Illinois State made several shots from senior forward Sarah Lafayette, redshirt senior midfielder Abby Basler, junior forward Riley O’Brien and sophomore midfielder Katharine Ashley.

The Salukis also had a shot from sophomore defender Kaitlin DuCharme in the first 15 minutes.

The Redbirds made the first goal of the game at 16 minutes by Lafayette assisted by junior forward Shaina Dudas, giving them the lead 1-0.

Illinois State scored their second goal from Dudas with 12 minutes left in the first half, extending their lead 2-0.

“Two of those goals kind of came against the run of play, but that’s the way the game goes,” Williams said.

SIU fought to catch up with the Redbirds with shots from freshman forward McKensey Bunch, sophomore forward Madison Meiring, junior forward Maya Warrior and DuCharme, but they were not able to score by the end of the half.

Illinois State led Southern in shots (9-6), shots on goal (6-1) in the first half while the Salukis led in saves 4-1.

Advertisement*

The second half started with a goal from Illinois State by O’Brien, bringing their lead to 3-0.

ISU continued trying to put points on the scoreboard with shots from Basler, senior midfielder Ashley Santos and freshman forward Haley Glover close to the end of the second half.

The Saluki only took one shot in the second half by DuCharme and the game ended with the Redbird’s victory 3-0.

“If you look at where we are and the growth and development of our program, we’ve played 27 games and even from the first game of the season to where we are now we are better,” Williams said.

The Salukis take the field for the last game of the regular season on April 7 against Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., at 6 p.m.  

Staff reporter Janae Mosby can be reached at jmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @mosbyj.

To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

Advertisement