Nov. 9, 2007

Box Score

ST PAUL, Minn. - The Illinois soccer team fell to the Purdue Boilermakers, 3-0, in the semifinal of the Big Ten Tournament at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium on Friday. The Boilermakers (18-2-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half, while the Illini (11-6-2) were unable to capitalize on opportunities in the second half as Purdue ended Illinois' tournament run.

"I think the problem was in the mentality we started with, we didn't go for it right from the beginning," head coach Janet Rayfield said. "We didn't start the game with the sense, of `Let's just go for this and see what we have left.' I think we were afraid of what we did or didn't have left. That made us a little bit tentative and in the first 15 minutes we gave up a couple of goals."

Purdue wasted little time notching its first goal of the game at 10:03, as Kalie Grambeau passed from the midfield to Loredana Riverso on the right side. Riverso drove down the field and fired from inside the six to the corner of the goal. The ball flew past diving goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens and ricocheted off the left post, trickling in to give the Boilermakers a 1-0 lead.

Purdue added its second goal just under four minutes later, as Shauna Stapleton rifled a shot from 25 yards out over Carstens' head to put the Boilermakers up by a pair of goals heading into halftime.

After a relatively quiet first half, the Illini came out more aggressively in the second half. The Orange and Blue were able to get more pressure on the ball and take some shots on goal, but were unable to capitalize on the offensive end.

"I think we responded well especially in the second half," Rayfield said. "Credit to us for mustering the will and the challenge to create chances and get ourselves back in to fight. We never quit. In the second half, we said, `Let's go for this' and we really battled and created chances. I thought for most of the second half Purdue was protecting their lead."

Illinois had a chance on a corner kick at 54:12 as sophomore forward Brittany Garrett sent the ball into the box. But after the ball bounced around, Purdue was able to clear before Illinois could get a shot. The Illini had another opportunity inside the Boilermakers' box six minutes later when freshman midfielder Cory Steigerwald gained control of a loose ball, but her swift shot bounced off the hands of Purdue goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch for the save.

"[The Boilermakers] defended their box really well, but we didn't put our shots on frame either," Rayfield said. "We didn't make them defend the goal. We got the ball inside the box and just couldn't get a shot off. Credit to them because they got back and got their hips turned. They were just a step ahead of us to balls we were serving in the box."

Purdue stifled another Illinois attack with just under 15 minutes to play. Freshman forward Jordan Hilbrands sent a through ball to junior forward Charlotte Cooke on the right side, but Bradfisch again read the ball and made another save to take away another Illinois opportunity.

Searching for offensive production, Illinois began to press and Carstens came out of the box to help the defense. Purdue was able to take advantage of the open net when a ball got past the Illinois defense and Jessica Okoroafo ran it down to punch in the final goal and seal Purdue's 3-0 win.

Overall, Purdue edged Illinois 9-7 in shots, while the Illini owned a 6-1 corner advantage. Carstens tallied three saves on the evening to Bradfisch's four.

The three goals were the most allowed by the Illinois defense since Sept. 7, when the Illini fell, 4-2, to No. 1-ranked UCLA. Illinois was shutout for only the second time this season and suffered their first tournament loss to Purdue, having beaten the Boilermakers in two previous semifinal matchups.

The Illini now await the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket. The Illini make a strong case for a tournament appearance, finishing third in the Big Ten and knocking off two opponents that were nationally ranked this season in Florida and Indiana, while five of their six losses came against opponents currently ranked in the top 25 (#23 Missouri, #1 UCLA, #6 Penn State, #8 Purdue twice).

As the Illini wait, Rayfield will be tweeking her team in preparation. While she is happy with Illinois' mentality, Rayfield says the team needs to make a few adjustments to be ready for a strong run in the NCAA tournament.

"From a mentality standpoint this weekend was really good for us," Rayfield said. "We're continuing to create chances, but we've got to get a little bit better in our box in terms of connecting from the player on the flank. We've got to make our attack more collective. We have to attack together and defend together. The effort was great this weekend, but there are times where if we could make that individual effort a collective effort, it will boost us that one step further that we need to make a run at the NCAAs."

The NCAA will announce the 2007 Division I Women's Soccer Championship bracket on Monday, Nov. 12 between 7:00 -7:30 p.m. live on ESPNews. The bracket will be available at NCAAsports.com immediately following the broadcast.