BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — A week after putting together a SCAC Defensive Player of the Week performance in his first weekend as a goalie, sophomore Blake Sitterly became the first Southwestern goalkeeper to score a goal, nailing the game-winner in an 11-10 victory over Illinois Wesleyan.
With less than five minutes remaining and a man up after a Southwestern penalty, Illinois Wesleyan turned to a 10-man ride, extending pressure the length of the field to press its advantage.
Sitterly, advancing the ball after an errant Illinois Wesleyan pass went out of bounds, scanned the field as the first line of defense came to greet him. Noticing the Illinois Wesleyan goalkeeper marking a Southwestern player away from the net, Sitterly heaved the ball the length of the field, finding the back of the empty net off one bounce for the improbable goal to give the Pirates an 11-9 lead with 4:42 remaining.
The defensive midfielder-turned-goalkeeper also had another big save with 28 seconds remaining, finishing with 13 on the night before Illinois Wesleyan scored a harmless final goal with five seconds left on the clock. The win was Southwestern's first over an NCAA Tournament team in program history.
It was a game of long runs early. Southwestern opened with a Zac Asbury goal off a Brady Middleton feed for the 1-0 lead roughly three minutes in. Illinois Wesleyan responded quickly, scoring four unanswered goals, with Carson Kiichle picking up the early hat trick by scoring three of the first four and assisting on the other.
The Pirates dominated the middle of the second quarter, reeling off six unanswered goals, with Nick Doxey assisting on four of them to put Southwestern up 7-4. Illinois answered with two goals in the last two minutes of the half, leaving the Pirates up 7-6 at the break.
Illinois Wesleyan opened the second half with the first two goals to take a brief 8-7 lead. An Asbury goal and assist put Southwestern back up before Kiichle tied it with an assist to Griffin DeMilt. Tyler Johnson found Jack Doloszycki to put Southwestern up 10-9 with 8:58 remaining, and Sitterly score the Pirates' final goal a few minutes later.
Asbury and Doxey led the Pirates with five points each, getting three goals and two assists from Asbury and one goal and four assists from Doxey. Hudson Bearden was dominant in face-off opportunities, winning 22-of-25.
With the win, Southwestern handed Illinois Wesleyan its first defeated of the season, dropping them to 3-1. The Pirates improve to 4-2 and play Benedictine (Ill.) on Sunday, March 19 at noon.
