Hawks display moxie in fending off Prairie Stars’ late push to earn tie in GLVC matchup

QUINCY — The dominoes aren’t falling the way they once were.

Leading Illinois-Springfield by a goal deep into the second half of Sunday’s Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup at Legends Stadium, the Quincy University women’s soccer team surrendered a goal in the 76th minute.

It didn’t devolve into two or three goals, the same way a mistake that gave the Prairie Stars a penalty kick in the 78th didn’t result in other mistakes.

Instead, the Hawks showed some moxie in riding out the final 10 minutes of regulation to earn a 1-1 tie and improve to 1-1-1 in GLVC play. Meanwhile, the QU men suffered a 1-0 loss to UIS as they allowed a goal in the 88th minute.

“Showing we can fight and stay in a game is a huge turnaround from last year,” Quincy women’s coach Mackenzie Schissel said.

It was a turnaround from Friday’s 4-0 loss to Indianapolis as well.

“We were a lot more brave in the air, winning first balls, second balls,” Schissel said. “We were a lot better on set pieces, which is something we’ve fallen short on, especially on Friday. Our bravery to win a ball was good for us.”

Reegan Hess gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute when she scored off an Ella Wolfard assist as the first half was played under a constant drizzle. The rain dissipated after halftime, but so did the lead as the Prairie Stars’ Dani Auble scored in the 76th minute.

Two minutes later, the Hawks (1-4-1) committed a foul in the box, giving the Prairie Stars the penalty kick. Quincy goalkeeper Julia Mincher dove her right to make the save on UIS’s Abby Dellamorte’s attempt to preserve the tie.

It was one of five saves Mincher made.

“We depend on each other a lot,” Schissel said. “That was a conversation at halftime, We’re doing our job and half of the person’s next to us. Sure, we conceded a penalty, but Julia was there to pick us up. After that, all together as a group we were a little bit more sound.”

In the men’s game, the Prairie Stars outshot the Hawks 20-9 overall and 7-3 on goal, but Quincy goalkeeper George Roke made six saves and UIS missed a penalty kick. However, Joey Fitzgerald scored in the 88th minute to give UIS the victory.

The Hawks are 1-4-1 overall and 0-2-1 in the GLVC with a pair of losses in which they surrendered the go-ahead goal in the final 15 minutes of regulation.