SPRINGFIELD, IL – Rockhurst University overwhelmed the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) men's soccer team in a 3-1 victory during Wednesday's Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) matchup.
 
After spending 71 minutes, 42 seconds knotted in a tie, the Hawks (13-1-2, 12-1-1) pulled away to a win over the Prairie Stars (8-7-1, 8-5-1). Rockhurst is ranked No. 8 in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) NCAA Division II poll.
 
"It didn't feel like a 3-1 match," UIS coach Adam Hall said. "We got punished on our mistakes, but I'm happy with most of the performance. We created some chances and I felt like our guys were unlucky to get more out of the match."
 
At 10:09, Rhys Wallace sent a cross into the box and Javier Milla fired a header to put UIS on the board.
 
During the next 15 seconds, Michael Panarisi sent a pass upfield to Ben McDonald. McDonald one-timed the pass and chipped the UIS defenders. This created a 1-on-1 situation for Kaleb Jackson and Jackson contributed the equalizer.
 
During the 16th minute, Adam Michel received a pass off his chest. He set up and drilled a bicycle kick, but UIS goalkeeper Tommy Geile came up with the save.
 
During the 26th minute, Wallace delivered a pass into the box. Jack Coombes provided a header but the shot went high.
 
UIS has the opportunity to take the lead after being fouled just outside of the box 70 minutes into the match. Alex Morais took the free kick but the shot went just right of the net.
 
One minute later, Rockhurst went into transition. Jackson made an upfield pass to Umoh Ufot, Ufot sent a cross to the center of the box and Gianluca Bottoni redirected the cross for a goal.
 
The Prairie Stars had a strong look in the 82nd minute. Alex Zarco set up Fernando Sanz de Galdeano for a one-timer which ended up striking the post.
 
Ufot added an insurance goal 84 minutes into the match after capitalizing off an upfield pass from Swann Vincent.
 
Jackson and Ufot each contributed a goal and an assist. Bottoni netted a goal while McDonald, Panarisi and Vincent dished out assists. Among GLVC leaders, Jackson ranks first in points (28), is tied for first in goals (11) and is tied for fourth in assists (6). Ufot is tied for ninth in the conference with 16 points.
 
For the Prairie Stars, Milla scored a goal assisted by Wallace.
 
The Hawks outshot the Prairie Stars 15-7 and held a 4-2 advantage in shots on goal. Rockhurst has limited teams to 2.56 shots on goal per match so far this season.
 
Rockhurst goalkeeper Logan Feldmann faced two shots and collected one save while Geile rejected one of the four shots he faced. Geile currently ranks second in the GLVC with an .816 save percentage.
 
Milla and Coombes each registered shots on goal. Coombes took two shots while the Prairie Stars also received shots from Milla, Morais, Sanz de Galdeano, Ahmadou Ndiaye and Naba Alzhyri.
 
UIS finished sixth in the GLVC standings. The Prairie Stars open up the first round of the GLVC Tournament with the third-seeded Lewis University (11-4-1, 10-3-1) on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Romeoville, IL.