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Sept. 14, 2003

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini defense had another outstanding effort on Sunday in a 2-0 win over Illinois State in the Illinois Invitational. After allowing no shots in a 1-0 victory over Evansville on Friday evening, the Illini allowed the Redbirds just seven today en route to their second consecutive shutout. It is the first time an Illinois team has posted two consecutive shutouts since October of 2000, when the Illini had three in a row against Big Ten opponents.

"Defensively we feel good about ourselves," said Illinois Head Coach Janet Rayfield. "We are fighting hard defensively, and to come out of any weekend 2-0 with two shutouts, you have to be happy with that."

"We are playing playing a 4-3-3 formation now and that has helped the defense out a lot because we have an extra person back and can help cover for each other," said senior defender Meghan Kolze. "We also have the forwards coming back and defending as well, so it's not just four people. I think that has made a big difference."

The Orange and Blue had numerous scoring opportunities early, including six corner kicks in the first 20 minutes of the game, but could not convert. Finally, in the 25th minute, the Illini took advantage their seventh corner kick of the day. Sophomore Christen Karniski's kick from the right corner found Meghan Kolze in the box, who flicked the ball to freshman Jessica Bayne for the score from three yards out. It was Bayne's third goal of the season and would prove to be the game winner.

UI's second goal came in the 78th minute when Bayne centered the ball from the left side and found Tara Hurless in front of the net. Hurless would punch the ball in from three yards out to give the Illini a two-goal cushion. It was Hurless team-leading fourth goal of the season, and was Bayne's first career assist.

ISU's best opportunity to score came in the 88th minute when Illinois goalkeeper Leisha Alcia came out to challenge ISU forward Diana Puckett, leaving the net wide open. Pucket got past Alcia, but her shot would sail wide left. For the game, the Redbirds had just two shots on goal, and also failed to convert on any of their four corner kicks.

Alcia made two saves on the day to earn the shutout, lowering her season goals-against-average to 0.68 in the process. ISU keeper Andrea Shaw gave up the two goals and saved two others in the losing effort.

Despite the two wins this weekend, Coach Rayfield still isn't completely satisfied with how her team is performing, especially on the offensive end of the field.

"We know we are a better soccer team than we showed this weekend," Rayfield said of her team. "Scoring only three goals this weekend is not the kind of threatening, goal scoring team that we need to be when it comes down to Big Ten play. We have to be more dangerous and our goal scorers have to start to produce for us to be successful in conference play."

With the win today, the Illini improve to 4-2-0 overall and 3-1-0 at home this season. Illinois State falls to 2-2-1 on the season.

Up Next: The Illini will open up Big Ten Conference play by hosting Michigan and Michigan State next weekend. The UI will take on the Wolverines Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m., then will host the Spartans on Sunday, Sept. 21.