Bonifas’ First Career Goal Leads Huskies to 1-1 Draw At UIS

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Fifth Year defender Cassie Bonifas scored her first career goal less than a minute after Illinois Springfield took a 1-0 lead to ultimately result in a 1-1 draw in Springfield, Illinois, at the Kawini's Stadium on Friday night.

Michigan Tech holds a record of 0-1-2, while Illinois Springfield moves to 0-0-3.

"It was a hard-fought game with a lot of firsts tonight," head coach Turk Ozturk said. "We had the first start for freshman Brooke Green, the first goal for Cassie Bonifas and the first career game for Olivia Gette.

"We are working hard during this non-conference schedule to figure out what will work best for us going forward. We will be battle-tested by the time conference play starts."

Senior goalkeeper Gracie VanLangevelde accounted for two tough stops in the first half to highlight a scoreless first half.

After over 56 minutes of play with minimal chances of scoring for either team, the Prairie Stars struck first with a goal by Maggie Joos. The Prairie Stars led for only 57 seconds as the Huskies quickly got back into UIS territory and capitalized off a corner kick by Taylor Noble, seeing Cassie Bonifas work the ball through the traffic and goalkeeper on the near post. 

Following the Huskies' goal, the offense continued to apply pressure and remained in the Illinois Springfield end for much of the remainder of the contest, highlighted by five corner kicks.

Bonifas almost struck again with a free kick sent from 10 yards outside of the box, hitting the crossbar with 12:30 left to play.

Kiersen Korienek made her season debut to lead the Huskies with two shots on goal. Sophomore Olivia Gette made her career debut logging 56 minutes.

The Huskies and Star Prairies were evenly matched with nine corner kicks apiece. Tech held an advantage of 11-9 in shots.

Vanlangevelde stopped three shots in between the posts for the Huskies.

Up Next

The Huskies conclude their non-conference stint with a Sunday Matinee against Lewis at 1 p.m.