Mattoon rebounded from a loss to Mahomet the night before to shut down Mt. Zion in an Apollo Conference girls soccer rematch Thursday afternoon.
The Green Wave, who lost to the Braves 6-4 two weeks ago, allowed only three shots on goal the entire game to improve to 8-3 overall, 4-2 in the conference.
“Lexi Denning, Callan Haldorsen, Lily Gregory, Taylor Kovach and Anna Jurka all played outstanding defense to help secure the shutout,” MHS coach Ryan Ghere said.
Kovach took a pass from Berkley Howell to put Mattoon ahead midway through the first half and Gabby Ray drilled a shot into the net from 30 yards out in the 26th minute to give the Green Wave a 2-0 lead.
Mattoon scored twice in the final two minutes of the half when Faith Niebrugge headed in a corner kick and then assisted on a goal by Paige Farmer to make it 4-0 at halftime.
Niebrugge scored the final goal 10 minutes into the second half.
“We played much better defense this time, Ghere said. “Our defenders did a great job of marking their forwards and didn’t give them time to work. The last time we played them, the game was wide open from end to end. This time, we did a much better job of limiting the space that they had to work in.”
Annabelle Lee recorded three saves.
The Green Wave will honor four seniors when they host Judah Christian at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon.
Coles County Sports 