Skip To Main Content

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Western Illinois University Athletics

Erick Bloom FP

Men's Soccer

Men's Soccer Shuts Out Graceland 2-0 in Exhibition

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois men's soccer opened the exhibition portion of its schedule with a 2-0 win over NAIA opponent Graceland at John MacKenzie Alumni Field on Friday evening.

After a scoreless first half, sophomore Erick Bloom scored off a free kick from Husref Jupic to put Western Illinois ahead 1-0 in the 64th minute.

Freshman Fernando Pacheco added an insurance goal in the 87th minute, when he scored on an open net after fellow rookie Diego Lopez pulled the keeper out of net and connected on a nice pass through the box.

"I'm pretty pleased, but it's just one exhibition game," 17th-year head coach Dr. Eric Johnson said. "Today was to establish what these [young] guys can do in a game situation and see how much depth we have, and obviously to start putting the pieces together in the attack."

Donald Ticknor earned the shutout in goal for the Leathernecks.

Freshman Drew Whalen also had a strong debut in purple & gold, taking six shots, three of which were saved and another which ricocheted off the right post.

The Leathernecks outshot the Yellowjackets by a 14-5 margin.

Western Illinois will compete in another exhibition contest on Sunday, this time welcoming DePaul to Macomb at 5 p.m.

"We've got a lot of new faces and they did well today," Johnson added. "Now we'll see what they bring back against a BIG EAST team on Sunday."

#WIUAthletics

#WIUMensSoccer

Print Friendly Version