Sept. 30, 2005

Box Score

Columbus, Ohio - Charlotte Cooke scored Illinois' second golden goal in as many matches as the Illini came from behind to take down Ohio State 2-1 in double-overtime at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. It's is Illinois' second consecutive double-overtime win and makes the Illini 2-0-2 in overtime matches this season.

"We had a lot of opportunities in the first half and we just couldn't convert," Illinois coach Janet Rayfield said. "We've talked about goal scoring being a result of our persistence and tonight we were persistent. We kept going and kept fighting, and finally with a minute left in the game that persistence paid off."

Cooke (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) made a run into the box in the 109th minute, took a pass from Eva Strickland (Seattle, Wash.), got the defender on her back, collected the ball and buried it in the back of the net for the game-winner. It was her first career goal and improved Illinois' record to 7-2-2 overall and 3-0-0 in the Big Ten, the Illini's first 3-0-0 start to a conference season.

"Charlotte showed an effort and a heart and a fight tonight," Rayfield said. "She has been playing a little hesitant and tonight that was gone. When she got the ball in the box with a minute left, she showed the composure of a senior."

The sudden-victory circumstances were a result of Illinois falling behind in the second half of a back-and-forth game. Ohio State's Lisa Collison gave the Buckeyes the lead with a tally at the 62:02 mark, her seventh goal of the year. But the Illini battled back with Strickland scoring her third season goal in the 77th minute off a feed from Ella Masar (Urbana, Ill.). Masar beat her defender on the left side of the field and served the ball into the box where Strickland headed it far post from the left corner of the box to tie the game 1-1. Strickland's three-point game with a goal and an assist is her highest-scoring game this season and ties a career high set on Oct. 5, 2003.

Neither team could push the game-winner across in regulation or the first overtime, but Cooke stepped in at the 108:58 mark for Illinois' second straight double-overtime win.

The Illini were without senior defender Kelly Campbell (Gaithersburg, Md.), who had lingering effects of a concussion after her head was stepped on near the end of the game against Wisconsin on Sept. 25. Natasha Karniski (Iowa City, Iowa) moved to left back, where she played much of her sophomore and junior seasons, while Christen Karniski (Iowa City, Iowa) shifted to Campbell's usual center back position for the Illini.

"You've really got to credit Christen for the way she stepped into Kelly's position at center back," Rayfield said. "That whole group did a great job and despite Natasha having not played back there all year, she played 90 minutes back there tonight and did a great job."

Illinois has Sunday off as a result of Ohio State being the lone Big Ten team without a travel partner. The Illini finish their three-game road trip next weekend with visits to No. 2 Penn State on Friday and Minnesota on Oct. 9.