Cougar Sports – Fall Recap
Note from Editor: The following article was written for our upcoming print edition of The Harbinger. Be on the lookout and grab a copy at the campuses of Illinois Central College later this week!
Monday, November 26th, 2018
East Peoria, Ill. – It was yet another busy fall sports season for the ICC Cougars, and there’s plenty to catch up on.
Women’s Volleyball | Final Record (21-20)
The ICC Women’s Volleyball team hit a rough patch to start the year, going (3-10) in their first 13 matches of the season. However, they rebounded, going on a five-match win streak to improve to (8-10).
With a three-set win over Wabash Valley on September 23rd, the Cougars went from seven games under to an even .500 winning percentage at (11-11).
For the most part, there were no true losing streaks the rest of the way, outside of a three-match skid in mid-October.
The Cougars will graduate eight sophomores: Maddie Malinowski, Sam Garcia, Amanda Pratt, Jackie Beaver, Mary O’Brien, Jess Norris, Haley Peterson, and Courtney Oeder.
O’Brien led the team in kills with 455. Oeder was within a hundred at 314 kills. Maddie McCunn led the team in assists with 722. Norris had a baker’s dozen in blocks. Norris’ 45 service aces also led the team.
The Cougars had their season come to an end in the District Championship, dropping the match to Lincoln Land, three sets to none.
Women’s Soccer | Final Record (11-5)
The ICC Women’s Soccer team got off to a strong start and kept that pace up.
Behind the efforts of one of the country’s top goal scorers in Izzy Mitra, the Cougars won all but one of their first five games, only allowing 1.4 goals per game over that stretch. Those five games featured two shutouts, 11-0 against Scott and 7-0 against John Wood.
One stat that certainly catches the eye is the fact that the Cougars never went on any sort of losing stretch over the entire course of the season.
Mitra would wind up having the team’s lead in goals by 14. Her 26 total goals on the year were good enough for 12th in the country, although she was as high as fourth.
The Cougars will lose seven sophomores to graduation. The season ended with a 5-1 loss to Southwestern Illinois on October 27th.
Men’s Soccer | Final Record (10-4-3)
The ICC Men’s Soccer team got off to a solid start, not losing a game until their fifth of the season.
The solid start was followed by a fairly brief winless stretch before the Cougars returned to their winning ways, going on a five-game win streak in the middle of the schedule.
ICC loses a significant number headed into next season, graduating a grand total of nine seniors.
The Cougars didn’t have a player score double figures in goals, but one player did get as close as you can get, that being Layee Kromah. Kromah finished the 2018 season with a total of nine goals, a team high.
The Cougars’ season ended with a 3-0 loss at St. Louis Community College on November 3rd.
By Alex Staab