SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars played to a 1-1 tie on Friday night in front of the homecoming crowd and 1993 men's National Championship team before suffering a heart-breaking double overtime loss on Sunday afternoon to the hands of Missouri S&T. The Prairie Stars currently sit in eighth place in the GLVC, sitting just ahead of Maryville and Bellarmine for the final playoff spot.
CURRENT GLVC STATUS
With the eight-team GLVC tournament quickly approaching, UIS currently occupies the final spot, sitting right behind Quincy and right ahead of Maryville and Bellarmine. The Prairie Stars have five remaining conference games on the schedule, three of which are with teams below them in the standings and the two others against two of the top three teams in the conference.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH VS DRURY – T, 1-1
On Friday night, Illinois Springfield played to a 1-1 draw against Drury (9-2-1, 7-2-1) who now sit in fourth in the GLVC.
Ricardo Estrada got the game going with a goal in the fifth minute, his first goal of the season.
Drury tied it up in the 42
nd minute on a penalty kick, pushing the game to 1-1 just minutes before the half.
The two teams couldn't find the back of the net in the second half, even though there were a total of 15 shots in the final 45 minutes. UIS put six shots on net and Drury five but both goalies held strong for the draw.
In the overtime periods, UIS put two shots up and Drury one but the game ended as it did in the first half, giving UIS their first tie of the year.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9TH VS MISSOURI S&T – L, 2-1
As they did on Friday night, UIS came out and put the first goal on the board early.
Jack Coombes netted his fourth goal of the season in the 17
th minute, assisted by
Naba Alzhyri and
Harry Hiscock. This marked the third consecutive game in which UIS had scored first.
The Miners came back to tie the game in the 27
th minute on a free-kick from 25 yards out as UIS keeper,
Tommy Geile was beat in the upper-90.
Though UIS outshot the Miners 7-1 in the second half, the Prairie Stars couldn't capitalize and found themselves in overtime for the second time over the weekend. With under two minutes remaining until playing to their second draw of the weekend, Missouri S&T scored, handing UIS another heart-breaking defeat.
WHATS NEXT FOR UIS
The Prairie Stars will play their final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday as they take on Oakland City University under the lights at 7:00 pm. They will then hit the road for games against William Jewell and Rockhurst, who is currently ranked #1 in the nation with a 11-0-1, 9-0-1 record. William Jewell is 15
th in the GLVC with a 1-10, 1-8 mark.
