Nov. 5, 1999
Bloomington, Ind. -
The temperature was 30 degrees warmer. The wind a little calmer. Two key players returned. The match was in a Bloomington, Ind., instead of Champaign. Everything was different this time around for Illinois against Iowa -- including the outcome. On the warmest Big Ten Tournament day on record, the sixth-seeded Illini downed the third-seeded Hawkeyes, 2-0, in the quarterfinal round.
That marked the first post-season win for Illinois in its second Big Ten Tournament. Two weeks earlier amid sub-freezing wind chill and minus offensive threats Lisa Baldwin and Emily Brown, Iowa shut out Illinois, 2-0 in Champaign. Friday a confident Illinois team garnered some revenge.
Illinois meets Michigan, a 2-1 victor over Michigan Statein OT, in the semifinals at Noon CST Saturday. Penn State meets Minnesota in the other semifinal. Penn State defeated Wisconsin, 3-0, while Minnesota blanked Ohio State, 2-0.
?We thought we out-played them the first time around,? said senior midfielder Kelly Buszkiewicz. ?This week we made an emphasis on putting pressure around the goal.?
?It didn?t hurt having Lisa and Emily back,? said Illinois head coach Tricia Taliaferro. ?We?ve had two weeks to prepare to face Iowa again. That helped as well.?
The night before at the annual Big Ten banquet, midfielder Emily Brown earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors, while teammates defender Heidi Holtzman and forward Lisa Baldwin were second-team selections. While Buszkiewicz, a second-team all-conference choice a year ago, was overshadowed by the play of her flashy teammates, the senior has been steady in leading the charge.
Friday, with the absence of midfielder Hollie Schurr, who tore an ACL a week ago in Colorado, Buszkiewicz took every free kick and every corner kick. Her corner 1:58 into the second half against the wind set up Illinois? first goal, which was scored by Baldwin by flicking in the ball inside the near post.
?(Buszkiewicz) really stepped up her game,? Taliaferro said. ?I would expect nothing less from a senior. We made a focus during pre-game that Buszkiewicz was going to make the decision on every free kick.?
?Every one comes into the tournament with a clean slate,? noted Buszkiewicz. ?We knew we could take control of the game. It was a matter of converting when we sent the ball into the box.?
Baldwin, who has been bothered by two knee dislocations, didn?t start Friday but provided a big lift off the bench. The Baldwin goal firmly gave the Illini the momentum and began a barrage of scoring chances by Illinois. Laura Freeman took a nice cross from Baldwin and sailed the ball just over the crossbar. Baldwin, Brown, sophomore Lindsay Johnson and Brown each got shots off within the next ten minutes.
Despite having the lead, Illinois kept the pressure on, out-shooting the Hawkeyes 8-3 in the second half. Besides finishing scoring chances, the other emphasis for Illinois was stopping Iowa freshman Sarah Lynch. Junior midfielder Julie Schueller?s task was to get a body on Lynch at the midfield, which she did successfully. Lynch did have a pair of breakaways late in the second half, but sophomore Sarah Heggen saved one chance, and the other ball sailed just wide as Lynch just missed the angle.
?Our goal was to control the center of the field and win every 50-50 ball,? Schueller said. ?I think for the most part we were able to do that.?
Illinois scored one of its most impressive goals with time winding down. Johnson serviced the ball past the far post from the right side, Brown saved the ball from sailing past the base line with a header back in front of the goal, where Freeman scored at the 87:47 mark of the match.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Taliaferro said, ?We?re looking at this match as the first of three.?
