MOUNT CARMEL -- Southwestern Illinois College shot lights out against Wabash Valley College's women's soccer team on Wednesday night -- no literally.
SWIC took a commanding 5-nil lead into the waning minutes of Wednesday's match at the Wabash Valley College soccer field, and then it happened.
With about 10 minutes left in the match it went dark right in the midst of a play. After a few minutes of waiting, the referees allowed time to continue to tick and the result went final, despite the lighting outage.
Prior to the power outage it was a rough game for the Lady Warriors (1-5), who mustered just one shot attempt against the Blue Storm.
The one shot came in the waning minutes off the foot of freshman MaKenna Langenhorst, who had an opportunity at the goal after SWIC's Bailey Bosler had fallen on a corner feed by freshman Olivia Butterworth, but couldn't convert, with the ball swiping just slightly right of the post.
For Wabash Valley College freshman goalie Kaylee Thaler, it was a long night. SWIC fired 39 shots at Thaler, but to Thaler's credit, she never ducked her head and continued to battle. Thaler recorded 25 saves, including a really nice diving penalty kick save. She did allow five goals, but based on the volume, it was impressive damage control on her behalf.
SWIC maintained a 3-0 halftime advantage, and tacked on two goals in the second half in the victory.
The Lady Warriors fall to 1-5 on the year with the loss, while SWIC improves to 8-1-1.
As quality of an opponent as SWIC is, it's nothing to hang your head about if you're Wabash Valley, they just have to regroup and continue to grow as a team.
They'll have a chance to snap their three-game losing streak on Saturday (Sept. 21) when they host Lewis and Clark for the second meeting of the season between the two schools. The last time the teams faced Lewis and Clark raced away with a 6-nil victory, the Lady Warriors will be hoping for a different result this time around.
Scoring summary:
SWIC -- 3 2 -- 5
WVC -- 0 0 -- 0
1st: (SWIC) Ferguson goal, 21'.
(SWIC) Merseal goal, 35'.
(SWIC) Poston goal, 42'.
2nd: Parks goal, 63'.
Kulig goal, 69'.