Aug. 31, 2001

Stats

AMES, Iowa. -- The Fighting Illini women's soccer team kicked off the 2001 season with a 6-0 shutout over the Iowa State Cyclones. The Illini scored three goals in each period while the Illinois defense shut down the Cyclones all night. The Illini outshot Iowa State 19-1 in the contest. Sophomore Sarah Anderson and newcomer Leisha Alcia each defended the goal for 45 minutes with Alcia recording the save.

"It was a definite team effort," head coach Tricia Taliaferro said. "We played organized and created some chances. We shared the offensive threat. Iowa State has improved since we played them last year and I expect them to do well."

The seniors led the way for the Illini on the offensive side of the ball. Lindsay Johnson scored Illinois' first goal of the season with an unassisted header off a deflection just 3:40 into the contest. Johnson also capped off the Illini scoring with an unassisted goal from the lower left corner at the 73:55 mark.

The other seniors each chipped in as well. Colleen Joyce put the Illini up 2-0 with a header from the top right corner at 19:32. Freshman Tara Hurless recorded the first assist of the season and the first assist of her career on the play. Just over 10 minutes later, Sarah Rowland scored the final goal of the first period on an unassisted shot from the lower left side.

At the 66:55 mark, defender Heidi Holtzman got into the action with her first career goal. The unassisted shot came from the lower right side. Joyce found the net again to put the Illini up by a 5-0 margin at the 73:20 mark with a header off a cross kick from Tiffani Walker. Johnson scored the final goal just 35 seconds later.

The Illini travel on to Kansas where they will face the Jayhawks Sunday at 11:30 a.m.