Macomb, Ill. — Western Illinois men's soccer scored four unanswered goals to defeat Illinois Springfield 4-0 on Sunday, earning a convincing road victory.
Nathan Bessinger opened the scoring in the 10th minute, finding the back of the net off assists from Marco Presta and George Frost to give the Leathernecks a 1-0 advantage.
Western Illinois carried the lead into halftime before extending its advantage early in the second half. Ty Duax scored in the 56th minute, just moments after Illinois Springfield's Ajdin Sobo was shown a red card, putting the Leathernecks ahead 2-0.
George Frost added two late goals to complete the scoring. His first came in the 83rd minute, assisted by Alexis Beltran and Jack Schwering, before he found the net again in the final minute with Schwering providing the assist.
The assist marked the first collegiate assist for Beltran, who helped set up Frost's first goal of the afternoon.
Drew Heller started in goal for Western Illinois, making one save during the opening half. The start marked Heller's first collegiate start, and he recorded his first collegiate shutout as the Leathernecks held Illinois Springfield scoreless for the full 90 minutes.
The Leathernecks' defensive performance came after a 3-1 loss to DePaul on Thursday. Following the defeat, the team focused on correcting mistakes and tightening up defensively.
"After the loss, we kind of did film over the weekend because we played on Thursday," Samsonas said. "We watched film, we analyzed what we did wrong. Most of the goals in the last game were mistakes that we should not be making, and Coach was hard on us about that. And we all got together and locked in, focused on defense, and we got a clean sheet today and a shutout at home. So I'm just happy about that, and we got a confidence boost, ready for Wednesday."
Western Illinois created several chances throughout the second half, including shots from Jason Hufnagle and Rashidi Ishibwiami shortly after halftime.
Frost finished with two goals, accounting for half of Western Illinois' four-goal offensive output, while the Leathernecks earned their first shutout of the season.
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