Nov. 9, 2001

Final Stats

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.-For the third straight year, the Illinois women's soccer team played in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal. For the first time, the Illini walked away victorious. Freshman Tara Hurless scored her fourth goal of the tournament with 19 seconds remaining in the first overtime. With the goal, the Illini edged Michigan, 2-1 to earn their first trip to the championship contest of the Big Ten Tournament.

Illinois got off to a quick start as junior Tara Schuling hit freshman Christine Sinak for the score just 55 seconds into the contest. At the 8:41 mark, an Abby Crumpton goal tied the game at one. Neither team scored again until Hurless hit the game-winning shot in the 104th minute.

It was the second-straight day of triumph for Hurless as she recorded a hat trick to lead the Illini past Iowa, 4-1, in the tournament opener on Thursday.

"It was great," Hurless said of her heroics. "I didn't expect it. We played Michigan well during the season and we wanted to play tough again. I never expected to have the game-winning goal. It's exciting."

Head coach Tricia Taliaferro praised the efforts of her freshmen saying: "Our freshmen have played a big role for us all season, and they have done a tremendous job in this tournament."

"Overall we played well. We played together and we played with discipline. I couldn't be more proud of this team," Taliaferro added.

Illinois and Michigan battled in the regular season Big Ten opener with the same result, the Illini winning 2-1 in overtime. Senior Colleen Joyce scored both Illinois goals in that contest. That was the first time in program history that Illinois beat Michigan. The Illini have now downed the Wolverines twice in one season.

Illinois (12-6-1) moves on to the Big Ten Tournament championship contest for the first time, meeting Penn State on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ET) at the Varsity Soccer Complex at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Illini and the Nittany Lions met earlier this season with Penn State winning 3-1. Last year the two teams met in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. In the third overtime, Penn State scored the only goal of the contest to move on to the finals.