Illinois women squeak past #21 Indiana
Updated: January 7, 2009
For the second time in three days Illinois took down a ranked opponent, this time defeating the No. 21 Indiana Hoosiers 1-0 in front of 690 fans at Illinois Soccer and Track Stadium.
Junior forward Ella Masar scored her second goal of the weekend and sixth of the season in the 39th minute, and the Illini defense allowed just three shots on goal for the second consecutive match, posting its second-consecutive shutout and fourth in the last six matches. The win clinches second place in the Big Ten for Illinois, as Penn States 2-1 win at Northwestern wrapped up the regular season Big Ten title for the Nittany Lions.
"Indianas not a team that gives up goals, so for us to get a goal and to get it early and know that we had one in the bank was a big thing," Illinois coach Janet Rayfield said. "And I think were pretty confident in our defense right now that we can keep the ball out of the back of the net."
Neither team was able to consistently possess the ball or control the flow of the match in the first half, as the ball pinged around the midfield a great deal. In the 39th minute, freshman defender Brittany Garrett (Naperville, Ill.) threw the ball in to Courtney Bell (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), who sent a perfect through-ball to Masar (Urbana, Ill.) on the right side of the 18-yard box. Masar sent her shot far post from 10 yards out past the reach of Indiana keeper Stacey Van Boxmeer for a 1-0 lead at 38:29.
It was Masars sixth goal of the season, tying her for the team lead with Chichi Nweke and Jessica Bayne, and she took over the team points lead with 18 on the season and 13 in Big Ten matches.
After struggling somewhat to keep possession in the first half, the Illini (11-6-0 overall, 7-2-0 in the Big Ten) dominated the second half by winning every second ball out of the air and controlling the pace of the match. Indiana (9-5-4, 5-3-1) managed just one shot, which wasnt on frame, in the second period as Illinois defense preserved the shutout by remaining organized and stifling any potential scoring runs with well-timed tackles and headers.
"A few weeks ago, we were scoring a lot of goals early and winning on our offense, and the last couple weeks weve been our winning on our defense," Rayfield said. "Thats what makes a great team - whatever you need, you bring to the table and you win games based on that. Weve got a powerful offense and a great defense and we can win games either way."
Again, the Illini back line of juniors Mary Therese McDonnell and Kara Gostisha, sophomore Emily Zurrer and freshman Brittany Garrett shone, working together like they had played as a unit the whole season despite the fact that it was just Garretts second start and fifth game action of her young career. The Illinois midfield of Paula Faherty, Kristy Weeks, Jackie Santacaterina, Marti Desjarlais and Jamie Alvis also consistently won balls and redirected Hoosier attackers.
For the match, the Illini out-shot Indiana 8-4 and out-cornered the Hoosiers 3-1. Illinois had three more fouls than Indiana, 16-13, but Indiana did not make a save in the match, with the Illini posting three. Illinois goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens recorded her seventh shutout of the season, moving her into third place on the single-season school shutouts record list, behind All-American Leisha Alcias 12 shutouts in 2003 and eight in 2004. She is also second on the career shutouts list with 13 behind Alcias 24.
