CHICAGO, Ill. – The Western Illinois men's soccer team played Illinois-Chicago to a scoreless tie on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
The Fighting Leathernecks (4-8-1) picked up their first tie of the year as they held the Flames (5-4-5) scoreless through regulation and both overtime periods.
"Overal I was happy with our effort today," said Western Illinois head coach Dr. Eric Johnson. "This is the first time we've come away with a result (win or tie) on the road. We have a big conference match coming up this weekend with IPFW so hopefully this gives us confidence heading into that match."
Neither team was able to muster much offense in the match as both sides combined for just five total shots on goal. David Puka was the only Leatherneck with a scoring opportunity, but his shot was stopped by Flames goalkeeper Steve Purdy in the 80th minute.
The Flames finished with four shots on goal, each from different players. Leatherneck goalkeeper Stephen Paterson kept Western in the match with three saves in the second period to keep the score tied.
"The defense played really well for us tonight," Johnson said. "Paterson was great again and the back line of Oskar Gasecki, Jonathan Sandoval and Kooten Johnson really worked hard tonight. They did a good job of keeping everything in front of them and not giving away any easy chances.
The shutout was the 19th of Paterson's career, placing him second in school history behind Ric Vondermark's 20 career shutouts.
Illinois-Chicago ended the match with four corner kicks to Western's two. The Leathernecks committed 10 fouls in the match to the Flames' eight. Western Illinois is now 2-1-1 in its last four matches, with its lone loss coming to then No. 16 Northwestern.
"Both teams played very well defensively tonight," Johnson said. "I think both of the front lines for each team really neutralized each other. It was really a game of possessions tonight. We limited their touches really well and we kept it simple."
The Leathernecks will return to action on the road against Summit League foe IPFW at 1 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 25.
