Red Devils Take Down Blackburn, 3-2

EUREKA – Khalil Alleyne (Diego Martin, Trinidad/Fatima College/Lincoln) walked into the Eureka College Team Room and let out a triumphant roar.

It spoke for everyone in Red Devil Nation following the Eureka men's soccer team's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening match against Blackburn. The Red Devils took down the Beavers 3-2 at McKinzie Field, clinching the win in dramatic fashion.

Jake Edmondson (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) netted the match-winning goal in the 84th minute and the Red Devils held off the Beavers from there.

The win moved the team to 3-2 on the season and 1-0 SLIAC play. And it was the Red Devils' first conference victory since Oct. 23, 2018 when EC bested the Beavers 2-0 on the road.

"It was just a great team win, honestly," Edmondson said. "We pulled through, stayed together, and as coach likes to say, we saw it through."

Edmondson's goal came after a free kick was played into the attacking third by Isaac Noriega (Chicago, Ill./Muchin College Prep/Lincoln). After a bounce, Daniel Jueliger (London, UK/Netherhall Secondary School/Lincoln) got a foot on it to flick it on to Edmondson, who took it out of the air, turned, took another touch into a small space between defenders and fired. The ball went right by the diving keeper into the lower left corner to give EC the advantage.

Alleyne scored two goals in the first half to give himself a team-high five goals on the season.

With his speed on and off the ball, the junior transfer from Lincoln College was a terror in the attacking third all night.

Perhaps the best example was his first goal. In the 12th minute, he chased down a long ball played on the right side on a counterattack. The defender got to it first, but when he played it back to the keeper, Alleyne kept going and blocked the attempted clearance.

He retrieved the ricochet and finished with style, faking a shot to his right, cutting to his left and tapping it in to put Eureka up 1-0.

Blackburn came up with an equalizer after scoring off a set piece in the 29th minute, but Alleyne responded just over a minute later to regain the lead.

Once again, it came on a counter. The Red Devils' striker raced the Beavers from box to box, putting it away from just inside the 18.

"It's always important as the striker to score, but also that the team gets the win," Alleyne said. "I'm just happy to be helping the team."

The Red Devils held a 2-1 lead for more than 13 minutes, and had chances to extend it, but they didn't come together. Blackburn made the most of its best opportunity late in the first half.

With just a little over two minutes until the break, Noah Klimpel headed in a cross by Romeo Godinez right in front of the goal line to tie the game at 2-2.

Although the Beavers managed to outshoot the home team by one, 14-13, the Red Devils controlled possession and dictated the pace from the midfield for much of the second half. They just weren't able to get ahead until Edmondson's ecstatic late finish.

"I thought we did a lot of things really well," said first-year coach Ryan Woodside, who recorded his first career SLIAC win and second win in as many games at McKinzie Field. "It was really good to see us see a game all the way through. And that's something that we talked about – just finishing strong and seeing a game all the way through.

We did a better job in the second half of time management and managing the end of the game. I thought we did a better job of getting central and playing the ball on the ground and playing the way that we play in the second half."

The Red Devils had solid contributions from everyone in its starting 11 and from those who came off the bench. Goalkeeper Brayton Strawkas (Buffalo, Ill./Tri-City) recorded four saves in the win.

For Edmondson, the win was particularly cathartic after experiencing two tough losses against Blackburn last year.

"It's really nice," he said. "It's a good feeling. We need to get another one, though."

The Red Devils (3-2, 1-0) will continue SLIAC play on Friday at McKinzie Field when Westminster (0-4) comes to town. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.