Box Score I Photo Gallery

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI women's soccer team scored four goals for the first time in a calendar year and the defense held off an aggressive Western Illinois squad in a 4-2 victory at Kuntz Stadium on Sunday. Junior Katrina McCrory scored twice and freshman Alicia Brock added a goal and an assist as IUPUI improved to 9-6-0 overall and 5-1-0 in The Summit League. 

The victory virtually locked up the program's first postseason berth since 2001.

"It's a goal that I know we've had since I've been here and since Coach (Johnson) has been here," McCrory said. "It's great to finally know that we're finally moving forward to accomplish that."

McCrory and the offense staked the Jaguars to an early 2-0 lead, scoring twice in the game's first seven minutes. The first came when IUPUI went the length of the field in near record time. Junior goalkeeper Jamie Farrell played a 50-50 deep ball to Brock, who was able to fend off her defender and get the ball to her feet. 

Rather than taking the shot herself, Brock laid the ball off to freshman Megan Hock, who angled an attempt in front of WIU's Meghan Tyk for her fourth goal of the season. Just over three minutes later, Brock earned a penalty kick when she was pulled down inside the 18-yard box after beating a defender. 

McCrory stepped up and easily beat Tyk for her fifth score of the year.

"It was incredibly nice to go out there and have an early lead," IUPUI Head Coach Chris Johnson said. "However, about 15 minutes after that we kind of eased back. That's something we need to address and grow as a team. When we have teams down, we have to continue to pound on them and put them away."

Western Illinois (5-8-2, 1-4-0 Summit) was able to cut the lead in half in the 33rd minute when Katelyn Wisner scored on a Jennifer Green corner kick. The Westerwinds kept the heat on, outshooting IUPUI 14-5 in the first half and 27-12 on the day, but IUPUI's efficient offense kept finding paydirt in the second half. 

McCrory capped her second multi-goal game of the season in the 56th minute thanks to Lauren Gallets' corner kick. The ball leaked free to McCrory just inside the top of the box and her shot glanced off two WIU defenders before crossing the endline. 

"I got lucky and we'll take it," McCrory said. "Everyone worked hard to get the win today." 

Western made things dicey with just under 25 minutes left when Green scored directly off a corner kick. She bent a ball high above the six-yard box and into the right side of the net for her second goal of the season. 

"They battled back each time," Johnson said. "I give credit to their coach and their team, that they kept coming at us. I credit our girls too. I thought there was a lot of challenging play going on and our girls held in there and continued to play the way we wanted to play."

IUPUI had the final answer less than a minute later to cap the day's scoring festival. Redshirt freshman Stacy Levack made a gorgeous carry through the midfield before sending a left-footed cross to Brock. The fleet forward did the rest from there, splitting two defenders before sending a shot inside the left post for her team-high seventh goal of the season. 

Western continued to challenge, but was unable to solve Farrell the rest of the way. The IUPUI goalkeeper made a season-high 10 saves in the victory and Tyk recorded two saves in defeat. WIU's Ashley Hoch led all players with seven attempts and Jill Kevorkian tried four. 

Brock led IUPUI with three attempts, putting two on frame. 

The win was IUPUI's sixth in the past seven games and puts the Jags one victory shy of the program's single-season record.

IUPUI now steps out of conference on Friday, Oct. 24 when they host crosstown Butler University at Kuntz Stadium at 7:00 p.m..