Oct. 12, 2003

Box Score

Illinois-Penn St. Box Score in PDF Format
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Champaign, Ill. - The 25th ranked Fighting Illini suffered their first Big Ten loss of the season by falling to #14 Penn State, 2-0, Sunday afternoon in front of 821 fans at Illinois Soccer Stadium. The loss snapped Illinois' streak of eight straight games without a loss and also ended a string of six consecutive home shutouts. Illinois drops to 9-2-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the Big Ten, while Penn State, the five-time defending Big Ten champion, improves to 12-2-2 overall and 6-1-0 in the league.

The Nittany Lions came out of the gate more aggressive and controlled the ball for most of the first half. Heidi Drummond got Penn State on the board in the 36th minute. The senior served a high ball into the box, Illini keeper Leisha Alcia came out to snare it but missed, and Drummond was able to beat the Illini defense to the ball on the right baseline and knock it in far post. It was Drummond's sixth goal of the season. Penn State took the 1-0 lead into halftime.

"I don't think we played real confidently in the beginning if the game, so we had to defend and get things out of our end," said Illini Head Coach Janet Rayfield. "The first 20 minutes were probably where we needed to be better today."

In the second half, the Illini came out much more aggressive and were able to create three great scoring chances. The first came in the 52nd minute when junior Andrea Ridgeway broke free of the PSU defense and fired a shot that sailed just right of the goal. The second came off a cross by Ridgeway from the right side in the 61st minute, but a defender deflected Eva Strickland's shot from the center of the box. The third chance, coming in the 80th minute, was probably the Illini's best of the day. Freshman Jessica Bayne made a great run and beat the PSU defense down the left side and crossed into the box, but Paula Faherty's header was saved by PSU goalkeeper Amanda Brown.

Despite the increased pressure by Illinois, the game remained at 1-0 until Nittany Lion sophomore Tiffany Weimer dribbled though the Illini defense and beat Alcia lower left from eight yards out to give PSU an insurance goal and a 2-0 lead in the 84th minute. It was Weimer's 16th goal of the season.

"A finish on one of those opportunities would have made this a different game," Rayfield said. "It takes a little bit of wind out of your sails when you create those opportunities against a good team and then you don't finish. It's important in any game that you finish the opportunities you have, because against a good team you're not going to get that many. We didn't get it done, but we just have keep on fighting and hope we get another chance."

The Nittany Lions finished the game with an 18-6 shot advantage after out-shooting the Illini 9-0 in the first frame. The Illini held an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks, but were unable to capitalize on the opportunities. Illini net-minder Leisha Alcia made a season-high eight saves on the day, many of the acrobatic variety. PSU keeper Amanda Brown had to make just one save to earn the shutout victory.

"I thought we played well defensively at times, but Penn St. is a good attacking team," said Rayfield. "It doesn't matter who we play, we just have to put the ball in the back of the net to win. If we don't score, we can't win."

Up Next: The Illini (9-3-1, 5-1-1) head to the state of Indiana for a pair of Big Ten road games next weekend. First, on Friday night, Illinois will face the Indiana Hoosiers (6-6-1, 3-3-1) at 7 p.m. They will then travel to Purdue (9-2-2, 5-1-1) to face the Boilermakers next Sunday for a 1 p.m. start.

Game Summary

Scoring 1st--2nd--Final
#14 Penn State	1--1--2
#25 Illinois		0--0--0

SCORING SUMMARY:
35:06 - PSU - Heidi Drummond (unassisted) - beat keeper and scored far post from right baseline
83:23 - PSU - Tiffany Weimer (unassisted) - dribbled through defense and beat keeper lower left from 8 yards

Shots: Penn State 18, Illinois 6
SOG: Penn State 11, Illinois 1
Corner Kicks: Illinois 8, Penn State 5
Saves: Illinois 9 (Alcia 8), Penn State 1 (Brown 1)