Cougars Men’s Soccer shuts out South Suburban

Alex Staab – ICC Harbinger

East Peoria, IL – The weather was favorable for a soccer game at the CougarPlex Saturday afternoon, as the Illinois Central College Men’s Soccer team (1-1-0) took on the Bulldogs from South Suburban College (1-1-0).

Things almost got off to a fast start for the Cougars, getting a corner kick in the third minute, but South Suburban was able to clear it out. It was followed just minutes later by a great look from sophomore David Galic, but his shot went off the post. After that, it was quiet for another ten minutes or so, when the Cougars would get another corner. This one was saved by the South Suburban goalkeeper, and the ball also stayed within or at least near the box for about a full minute before South Suburban was able to clear it. It was ICC’s turn defensively a few minutes later as Cougar goalkeeper Bojan Bobinac was able to make a save around the 16-minute mark. It certainly wouldn’t be the last time Bobinac would see a South Suburban attempt.

Just a mere three minutes later came the first goal of the contest. David Galic was able to get redemption from his shot off the post from earlier, netting the first official Cougar goal of the 2017 season, giving ICC a 1-0 lead with at least 71 minutes of soccer left to play. Activity kept pouring on, when ICC got yet another corner in their favor in the 23rd minute. However, this one, like all the others thus far, was cleared by South Suburban. The only true action for the Cougars in the first half was quite possibly one of their best chances of the half, when a corner kick in the 36th minute was headed wide left of the net, and that would be all through halftime, when the score was still 1-0 Cougars.

In the first half, the Cougars were doing a good job communicating on things such as ball placement, while the Bulldogs seemed to really be struggling with communication on their own part.

The second half saw a slight decline in pace, but that was about the only difference for the first good portion of the period. A couple of shots within fifteen minutes of each other by Nikola Vujicic, one which was saved and the other was wide left. A corner by the Cougars about 66 minutes into the game was what seemed to be the last action either side would truly see for the whole game. Then things got really interesting late.

In the course of ten minutes, South Suburban had two players each get one yellow card, ICC got a corner kick which turned into a second goal for Galic, and Vujicic was able to net a goal, finishing the game on an increasingly faster pace of action than fans had seen in the first 80+ minutes. In the end, the Cougars got their first win of the year, defeating the Bulldogs, 3-0.

The next Men’s Soccer home game is next Saturday, September 2nd, at 12:00 pm, against Morton College from Cicero, Illinois.

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