Illinois Springfield Women's Soccer defeated UIndy 2-1 Wednesday in a comeback win with goals by two defenders. 

UIS spent much of the first half in UIndy's end, earning three corner kicks in the opening 12 minutes and getting saved shots from Mallory Herber and Kalli Drexler around Addi Wittenberg's shot off the crossbar. The pressure returned late when Aubrey Quigley and Maddie Festerling put shots on frame and the Prairie Stars added two more corners, but UIndy scored through Jaci Merchant at 44:47 to send UIS into halftime trailing 1-0.

The Prairie Stars erased the deficit at 46:57 when Lloyd scored to start the second half, then took the lead on Makenna Yeager's goal assisted by Lloyd. The Stars generated repeated chances between the goals, including five shots and three corners during a stretch from 52:51 to 61:27. 

Lloyd scored once, added an assist and put all four of her shots on goal for a three-point performance. Yeager headed in Lloyd's corner for the game-winning goal. Wittenberg led Illinois Springfield with seven shots and placed two on frame. Gigi Yurevich played all 90 minutes in goal and made one save.

"Gritty performance tonight from the team," said head coach Scott Myers. "We started off a little flat and didn't allow ourselves to get into the rhythm that we were looking for. Credit to UIndy for putting us in that place. Giving up the goal so late in the half was disappointing, but also motivating for us.

"Coming out of the half, we had some clear goals, and one of those was increasing our belief in each other as well as raising our energy. I felt that we accomplished that with all 32 players on the squad, from greater communication from the sidelines to digging in and exerting more energy on the field. I'm really happy for Riley and Makenna for getting on the scoresheet tonight. Those two have worked so hard on defense all season, so to see their joy after scoring was exciting. We will get back to work tomorrow and look forward to heading to Maryville on the weekend for another tough road test."

Up next, the Prairie Stars visit Maryville in St. Louis on Saturday, Oct. 10, at noon.


UIS thanks CEFCU for its partnership and continued support of UIS soccer. Learn more about CEFCU.