Oct. 29, 1999

Colorado Springs, Colo. -

Illinois Head Coach Tricia Taliaferro hopes that the struggles her team has had in overtime this season has vanished into thin air. Friday a mile above sea level, the Illini rebounded from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Colorado College, 2-1 in overtime.

Emily Brown scored her third goal in two games and her Illini record 16th on the season off a feed from Lindsay Johnson (her fourth assist of the year) at the 94:04 mark, for the game winner. Brown rocketed a shot between Colorado goalkeeper Kristen Masunaga and the near post four minutes into the sudden death overtime.

As has been the case in many games, Illinois or its opponents scored early. This time, Colorado did the honors. CC forward Mari Miezwa took a long clearing kick from Masunaga and drove in for the first score at the 2:08 mark of the game.

The Illini hung tough behind six saves from sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Heggen and finally pulled even on a goal by senior Kelly Buszkiewicz on a feed from freshman Laura Freeman (her team-high seventh assist) at 76:52.

Illinois out-shot its opponents once again, this time 17-10, and had an advantage on corner kicks, 6-4.

?It was nice to finally be able to finish one in overtime,? said Taliaferro, whose club was 1-3-2 in extra sessions coming into the match ?I think we?re gaining momentum at the right time of the year as we head into the Big Ten Tournament.

?This win was especially gratifying,? Taliaferro continued, ?because of the travel and playing in the thin air. We?ve definitely stepped up our level of play.?

Illinois takes an 11-6-2 mark into Sunday?s regular season finale at the University of Denver. With a win, the Illini can tie last year?s school record for wins when Illinois went 12-8. Colorado College dropped to 8-7-2