Jeff Neukom
In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the Joker claims that his battle with Batman is the result of an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force; they are destined to battle for eternity. Imagine just for a moment, what might happen if an unstoppable force were to meet a very, very moveable object.
The Illinois Wesleyan women’s soccer team personified such an unstoppable force against a very movable Earlham College. Hailing from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, Earlham is not a team the Titans will see routinely. That being said, they still made sure to make the Quakers’ visit anything but pleasant.
The 10-0 drubbing of the Quakers is the largest margin of victory for the Titans since their 13-1 topping of Eureka College in September of 2009.
In a blowout game like this, it can be common for teams to acquire bad habits by playing down to the opponents level. The Titans soundly avoided doing so, adhering to the standards they set for themselves and the fundamentals of the game.
Sophomore Skyler Tomko said, “Although the game was not as competitive as we would’ve hoped, the team played well as a whole. We were connecting passes well and developing good rhythm. We also were finishing most of our chances which led to the high score.”
Once the goals started coming for the Titans, they did not stop. Tomko cracked open the floodgates, notching her third goal of the season off of a cross from Senior defender Tess Bottorff. Tomko was soon joined by juniors Sydney Fox and Jenna Baker with two each. Sophomore forward Amanda Kaiser and senior Tess Bortoff each added one to round out the double-digit lead.
Tomko went on to tie a Wesleyan record for most goals in a single game, notching four. Tomko now claims a very special place in the Illinois Wesleyan Women’s soccer history books alongside Marissa Johnson, who set the mark back in 2004 at Carthage. She now leads the team in goals with six. Tomko’s second goal came off a feed from Amanda Kaiser, who was able to poke the ball away from Earlham’s center back to give Tomko the breakaway opportunity. Her latter two goals were candid displays of individual skill, as she took defenders off the dribble and calmly finished both shots.
Contrary to the battle of the Dark Knight and Batman, Ealham College proved anything but an immovable object for the unstoppable Titans. With the victory, the lady Titans improved to 3-1 for the year and will look to maintain form as they inch closer to the all-important conference play.