Aug. 24, 2010

 

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois women's soccer team used a late offensive burst to push past Wright State, 3-1, at Illinois Soccer Stadium on Tuesday, Aug. 24. The Illini tallied goals from freshman Vanessa DiBernardo, sophomore Nicole Denenberg and junior Jenna Carosio.

"One of the real positives from the game tonight is, against a pretty good defensive team, we created a lot of chances from many different players and different places on the field," said head coach Janet Rayfield of her team's 34-shot performance, the fifth-most shots taken by the Illini in the program's history.

DiBernardo opened scoring in the 30th minute, her second goal in as many games. Classmate Megan Pawloski used a front-flip throw-in to propel the ball across the field and into the box. Pawloski's long throw went over the waiting Raiders' defenders and landed at DiBernardo's feet, where the Naperville, Ill. native settled the ball and fired a shot past Wright State goalie Brooke McCurdy. With this goal, DiBernardo has tallied two goals in as many games and currently leads the Illini in points with five.

"Vanessa is a special player and she has some natural instincts which allow her to jump into this game and play at the pace this game is played," said Rayfield. "It's her ability to sense pressure, she has never dealt with the pressure of the college game before; however, she deals with it instinctively."

Wright State answered with less than one minute remaining in the first half to tie the game, 1-1. Emilie Fillion recovered the ball outside the Illini box, dribbled to its edge and fired a shot over the head of sophomore goalie Steph Panozzo.

After more than 30 minutes of scoreless play, the Orange and Blue capitalized on chances from inside the Raiders' box. Denenberg took the ball from classmate Niki Read and blasted a shot off the left post for her first collegiate goal. Denenberg followed with her first collegiate assist five minutes later as the Chicago native's shot attempt landed at the feet of Carosio who turned and fired the ball past McCurdy to reach the final score, 3-1.

The Illini defense held the Raiders to five total shots while Panozzo and senior Alexandra Kapicka combined to make two saves in net. For the second consecutive game, Illinois held its opponent without a corner kick.

The Orange and Blue return to action on Sunday, Aug. 29 with a 1 p.m. home match against the Ball State Cardinals.