Oct. 22, 1999
CHAMPAIGN, IL -
The streak stands at 309. That?s the number of minutes since the last Illinois goal. For the third straight game Illinois suffered a shutout, this time to the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes, 2-0 at the Illinois Soccer Field.
Illinois played the contest without its two leading scorers, Emily Brown and Lisa Baldwin, which meant a makeshift line-up for the Illini. Sophomore Lindsay Johnson was up to the challenge moving up to forward from the midfield. Johnson provided some fancy footwork, several nice crosses and a team-leading three shots on goal. Unfortunately once again, her play wasn?t the catalyst for the ball reaching the opponents? net.
Wind was a factor. With temperatures sinking to the 30s by nights end, the wind chill factor dipped well below freezing. Illinois had the wind in the first half, but Johnson?s shot to the left of the post was as close as the Illini could get to the net. Despite going against the wind, Iowa managed the same number of shots as the Illini-- five.
Iowa gained momentum about 15 minutes into the second half and finally scored at the 59:22 mark when Julie Atkocaitis fed Linzy Wolman for a one-timer and a score just to the left of net. Several times it looked as if the Illini would defile the odds and score against the wind. Hollie Schurr poked one past the defense from 20 yards out that needed a save from Hawkeye goaltender Missy Wickart.
Without Brown, the Illini had trouble getting heads on the ball in front of the net on their five corner chances.
Iowa out-shot Illinois 9-4 in the second half and capped off the game with a Beth Oldenberg goal following a shot by one of the Big Ten?s leading scorers, Sarah Lynch, at the 83:49 mark.
Illinois coaches will have more than one reason to review the videotape of tonight?s match. Thanks to losses by Wisconsin (1-0 to Minnesota) and Michigan State (1-0 to Northwestern), the Illini maintain their sixth-place in the Big Ten heading into the conference tournament in two weeks. That will mean a rematch with Iowa (11-50, 7-3-0), the third seed in the tourney. Other first round matches in Bloomington, Ind. on Nov. 4 will be #8 Wisconsin vs. #1 Penn State, #5 Ohio State vs. #4 Minnesota and #7 Michigan State vs. #2 Michigan.
Despite the loss, head coach Tricia Taliaferro says if her club keeps doing with its doing, eventually the goals will come. ?Overall we played nice soccer,? she said. ?The wind made this a different game.
?(Brown and Baldwin) give us that threat from 20 yards out. Would they have made a difference tonight? I don?t know.?
Illinois steps out of conference for matches vs. Illinois State (Sunday), at Colorado College (Oct. 29) and at the University of Denver (Oct. 31) before the Big Ten Tournament.
