The University of Illinois Springfield men's soccer team entered GLVC play on Sunday at Lee Field in Springfield, Ill. against highly-ranked No. 6 Maryville. After a back-and-forth match, it was the Prairie Stars that prevailed by a 1-0 score to beat the visiting Saints and claim one of the biggest wins in the program's NCAA era.
 
Early on, the game was tightly contested with both teams making chances and jockeying for possession of the ball early on. UIS found its moment to shine in the 26th minute when a UIS player was fouled on the far left sideline of the field. The ensuing free kick was taken by Conal Gallagher. Gallagher curved his long shot past the Maryville goalkeeper to thrust UIS into the lead.
 
In the second half, Maryville started to press UIS in search of the equalizer, but UIS's defense was able to be resilient under the pressure and preserve the shutout for Pijus Petkevicius, his first of the season. Although Maryville outshot UIS in the second half, the Prairie Stars defense rarely gave a clean look at the goal, and was able to close down many of the shots causing them to be blocked or off-target.

Petkevicius made three saves in total, and was assisted by defensive stalwarts Morgan Ratcliffe and Marvin Zott who both played all 90 minutes of the matchup.
 
The Prairie Stars now improve their record to 2-2-0 for the season. They will once again be hosting their next game at Lee Field when they take on Missouri-St. Louis on Friday at 7:30 p.m.