Eureka Draws at Illinois Tech, 2-2
CHICAGO, Ill. – The Eureka men's soccer team drew 2-2 for the second time this weekend on Sunday.
A day after coming back from down two goals to earn a 2-2 draw against Ripon, the Red Devils delivered a late equalizer that resulted in a 2-2 draw at Illinois Tech.
Isaac Noriega (Chicago, Ill./Muchin College Prep/Lincoln) leveled the score with a strike on the right side of the six-yard box in the 88th minute following a long throw by Jake Edmondson (Monticello, Ill./Monticello) and a mid-air redirect by Aiden Andrews (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central).
It was the second goal of the season for the versatile senior, and the Red Devils' first since Raphael Mungu (Bloomington, Ill./Normal) found the back of the net in the 37th minute.
Mungu, a sophomore, scored the first goal of the game after receiving the ball near half-field and splitting several Scarlet Hawks en route to a 1-v.-1 with the keeper. It was his first goal of the season and the second of his career.
Illinois Tech responded less than four minutes later on a deflected shot goal by Maciek Matusiak. Masusiak took a touch towards the middle after a throw-in from the left side and fired, benefitting from an unlucky touch by a Eureka defender.
The score stayed tied at 1-1 until the home took advantage of a corner kick opportunity with less than 12 minutes to play. Anthony Paiotti found Jake Skiba, and he put it away for the go-ahead score.
Eureka had a chance to equalize soon after as Edmondson laid one off Jacob Russow (Streator, Ill./Streator/Lincoln) near the top of the 6, but the shot sailed high.
A couple of minutes later, Eli Guyton (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) smashed one off the crossbar, and Michael DeCarlo (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) had a shot get blocked in the box with just over four minutes to play.
The Red Devils kept knocking on the door until Noriega finally knotted it up.
Goalkeeper Brecken Cady (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) recorded seven saves the day after notching a career-high eight against Ripon.
With the result, Eureka moved to 2-1-2 on the season. The Red Devils (2-1-2) will next face Illinois College (3-2) on the road next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.