Fulton, MO 9/4/2022- The Westminster College men's soccer team had their home opener Sunday afternoon when they welcomed the Illinois College Blue Boys to Blue Jay Field. The two teams battled in a grueling, physical match that saw two yellow cards and sixteen total fouls. The Blue Boys would score six minutes into the game and held a 1-0 lead for the rest of the game.
The Blue Boys found a player streaking down the left side on a through ball and he made a move to the right then blasted a shot past the Blue Jay goalie Davis Herbst (O'Fallon, MO / Fort Zumwalt North). Herbst would settle in from that point forward making eight straight saves in what turned out to be a busy afternoon in goal for the young freshman goalkeeper. Herbst was playing in his first collegiate match for Westminster.
The Blue Jays and everyone in attendance thought they had hit the equalizer when a shot by Kaedyn Royer (Thayer, IL / North Mac) banged off the inside of the left post and somehow did not find the back of the net. Illinois College would clear it with eighteen minutes left to play in the first half. Westminster would not get another attempt to tie it and went into the halftime break trailing 1-0.
Nolan Deane (Eureka, MO / Eureka) would put a shot on goal five minutes into the second half, but the bicycle kick attempt would go just wide of the net. The Blue Jays would threaten a few more times in the second half but were never able to get organized as the Blue Boy defense did a good job of snuffing out the Jays' attack. Niklas Olsson (Kansas City, MO / Liberty) had the best chance to tie it with a shot from the top of the penalty box. He tried going bottom right and almost beat the Blue Boys keeper who made a diving save to deny the Blue Jays the goal. Illinois College held off the Blue Jays long enough to walk away with the 1-0 victory.
The Blue Jays will be back in action on Wednesday, September 7th when they travel to Hannibal, Missouri to take on Hannibal-La Grange. That game is set to kick off at 4 PM.
