Oct. 6, 2000

Box Score

University Park, Pa. -

The Penn State Lady Lions proved why they are the defending Big Ten champions Friday night, blanking Illinois, 3-0 in women's soccer. The host Lady Lions, ranked No.6 in the latest Soccer America national poll, got two goals and one assist from sophomore standout Christie Welsh.

Illinois was out-shot for the first time this season (10-7), yet still had some opportunities with eight corner kicks to Penn State's four.

It didn't take long for Penn State (11-2, 5-0) to get on the scoreboard. Welsh scored from 12 yards out on feeds from Erin Miller and Joanna Lohman just 1:04 into the contest. Welsh poked home a loose ball off a Bonnie Young corner kick at 24:39, making it. Penn State scored its final goal at 51:21 on a through ball from Welsh.

Illinois' AnneMarie Hennes falls to 3-4 in goal. Hennes had two saves. Sarah Anderson played the final 35 minutes in goal. The Illini are 7-5, 3-3 in the Big Ten. They travel to Ohio State on Sunday. Kickoff is 12:30 p.m. Ohio State got its first conference win of the season with a 2-1 home victory over Iowa tonight.

Illinois continues to have over half of its shots on goal, as four of the seven Friday were on goal. Defender Heidi Holtzman (2), Julie Schueller, Hollie Schurr, Sue Hodson, Tiffani Walker, and Laura Freeman had the Illinois shots.

"Although we're not pleased with the results, I'm not at all disappointed with our performance," said Illinois Head Coach Tricia Taliaferro. "Christie Welsh and (goalkeeper) Emily Oleksiuk had tryouts with the US National team, so that tells you the type of players we were up against.

"We stuck to our game plan and played well. We're developing in the right direction. We'll take this experience and learn from it heading into Ohio State on Sunday."