Both Titan soccer teams found themselves back in the win column after their away games on Wednesday, September 24. The women’s team traveled to Knox College and defeated the Prairie Fire 4-1. The men’s team headed over to Eureka College and walked away with the 3-0 victory.
Both teams were dominant from the minute play began. The women’s team scored two goals in the first quarter, one within the first three minutes. Senior midfielder Kayley dished the ball over to sophomore center back Kiera Robinson to get the Illinois Wesleyan on the board. Knox snuck one goal past the Titans right before halftime, but any other attempt was snuffed out by the IWU defense.
The women’s offense pummeled the Prairie Fire’s goalkeeper with 15 shots compared to Knox’s six. Eight of the Titan’s shots landed on target, while Knox only managed four. IWU’s final goal came from junior forward Ava Mapes, which marks her first goal of the season.
The defense shone on the men’s side, with the team grabbing their second shutout of the season. Eureka attempted 13 shots, but thanks to the Titan defense only three landed on goal.
The offense smothered their opponents, with 32 total shots and 12 on goal for Illinois Wesleyan.
The men’s first goal came from a header by junior defender Faheem Mujahid, who passed it off to forward Gavin Young for the sophomore’s first collegiate career goal. Three minutes later, first-year midfielder Colby Thomas sent a pass to senior forward Logan Tierney to up the Titan’s lead to 2-0 at the half. With six minutes left in the match, Mujahid snuck IWU’s final goal past Eureka’s goalkeeper.
Both teams will travel to Carthage College on Saturday, October 4 for their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin matchups. The women’s game is set to begin at 4 p.m. and the men’s game will start at 7 p.m. Fans can find livestreams and live stats on iwusports.com.
