Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College men's soccer team began their Midwest Conference season with a 5-0 win against Ripon at England Stadium in Jacksonville, Illinois, on Saturday. With this victory, Illinois College improved its record to 6-1-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Ripon's record fell to 5-3-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Jason Hernandez scored the first goal for Illinois College at the 20:55 mark after receiving a pass from Oscar Liogon Arenas. The Blueboys maintained a 1-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Illinois College increased their lead with four more goals. Tyler Lunning scored with a header at 46:41, followed by Liogon Arenas' sixth goal of the season at 51:56. Kevin Cruz added another goal at 65:35 with an assist from J'aiden Cranwell-Meneses. Elijah Bunda finished the scoring for Illinois College with his second goal of the year at 77:41.

Illinois College controlled much of the game offensively, outshooting Ripon by a margin of 21 to 5. Liogon Arenas led the team with four shots, while six other players contributed two shots each.

Goalkeeper TJ Esseily played the entire match and made two saves.

"IC is 5-0-1 in its last six matches… over the past three seasons, the Blueboys are now 13-2-2 in Midwest Conference action."

Illinois College will travel to Knox for its next Midwest Conference match on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.