Chrisman scores twice to help Collinsville end three game SWC slide
Collinsville senior forward Mikaila Chrisman picked the perfect time to break out of a season-long scoring drought on Thursday in a Southwestern Conference soccer game.
Chrisman scored her first two goals of the season, the second one coming early in the second half, as Collinsville broke a three-game SWC losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Belleville East Lancers.
Belleville East (7-7), looking to get back on track after dropping a 2-0 decision to Alton on Tuesday, took a 1-0 lead midway in the first half on a goal by junior midfielder Ally Thomas.
Three minutes later, Chrisman scored the tying goal when she poked in a rebound from 12 yards out. The soft-spoken Kahoks captain then provided the eventual game-winning goal five minutes into the second half.
“It was good to be able to score and help my team out tonight,” Chrisman said “Hopefully this will give us a little lift heading into the next few games.”
The win is just the second in six SWC starts for the Kahoks (6-6, 2-4) who have failed to sustain any sort of consistent offensive attack in league play. In its four league losses, Collinsville has scored just three goals
“We’ve lost some close games in the conference,” Collinsville coach Chris Digirolamo said. “It’s been tough as it always is in the Southwestern Conference. This year there is just so much parity. With the exception of O’Fallon which I think has three losses overall and Edwardsville which I believe is 5-0 in the league, everybody else has four, five or six losses. It’s a great conference and you have to be ready to play every night.
“With four losses we’re not going to win the conference. This win tonight was important for us in terms of maybe getting a higher seed in the postseason.”
Belleville East coach James Chambers was also looking ahead on Thursday. With the loss, East falls to 3-3 in league play, three games behind SWC leading Edwardsville, which defeated O’Fallon 2-1 in its most recent outing.
“I thought we played pretty well early. But when they (Collinsville) switched up we were hesitant to change our offensive formations,” Chambers said. “You don’t want to show the opposing teams too much of what your might do and what you have planned for the postseason.”
This story was originally published April 11, 2019 at 11:31 PM.