Oct. 19, 2003

Box Score

Illinois-Purdue Box Score in PDF Format
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West Lafayette, Ind. - The 20th ranked Fighting Illini and the 14th ranked Purdue Boilermakers battled to a 1-1 tie on Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind. The draw, coupled with a win by league leading Penn State (14-2-2, 8-1-0) today, eliminates any Big Ten title hopes for Illinois (10-3-2, 6-1-2), but does clinch at least a share of second place for the Illini with one game remaining. Purdue (9-3-3, 5-2-2) can still earn a share of second place with a win over Indiana coupled an Illini loss next Friday against Northwestern.

"We come out of here with a tie, on the road, against a team like Purdue when they've got all the emotion of senior day," said Illinois Head Coach Janet Rayfield. "While we're not pleased with the result, we are pleased with the way our team battled and fought against a good team that had a lot of emotion and a lot of drive. I think that shows a lot of character for us."

The Boilermakers came out fired up on their senior day and dominated possession for the first 30 minutes of the match. Illini keeper Leisha Alcia made several saves in the opening minutes, but Purdue was able to break through in the 20th minute when defender Sharon Pagorek headed home a Jayme-Lee Biamonte corner kick to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. It was Pagorek's first career goal.

The Illini were able to turn the tide late in the first half and tied the score at 1-1 just over five minutes before the break. Freshman Brittany Ward crossed into the box from the right side; Tara Hurless collected it near the left post and slid her shot back across the goal just past the reach of Purdue keeper Lauren Mason. It was Hurless' team-leading ninth goal of the season and her third in the last two games. For Champaign native Ward, it was her third assist on the year.

Hurless' goal in the 40th minute would conclude the scoring, however, there was no shortage of excitement in the second half and in the two overtime periods. The Orange and Blue had several opportunities to pull ahead but could not convert, while Alcia was spectacular on the day, making several acrobatic saves to keep the game knotted at one.

The Mississauga, Ontario native finished with a career-best 11 saves, including four game-saving stops in the two overtime periods. The first came just 39 seconds into the first OT period, as she was able to corral a Meghan Dybvig shot. The second came with 5:40 remaining in the first OT, when she was able to pounce on a Courtney Coppedge header. The third was less than a minute later at the 4:51 mark, when she dove to her right to stop a Lauren Sesselman break away attempt, and the last came with 8:36 left in the second OT, when Alcia dove to her right to thwart another break away attempt, this time by Coppedge.

"You can't talk about this game without talking about Leisha Alcia, she kept us in this game," Rafield said of her goalkeeper. "We've talked all year about how her job is to make at least one game saving save; today she had a whole lot more than that. She probably had five or six of what I'd call game-saving saves. This season is about who can step up on a given day. We needed Leisha today because of the emotion and the energy Purdue had, and she came through and kept us in the game."

For the game, the Illini allowed a season-high 22 shots and 12 shots on goal, while firing 11 shots of their own, six of which were on goal. Like Alcia, Purdue net-minder Lauren Mason played all 110 minutes, stopping five of the six Illini shots and allowing the one goal. The Boilermakers also held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks.

Up Next: The Illini return home for a pair of games next weekend. First they'll close out the Big Ten Conference season by taking on Northwestern Friday night at 7 p.m. Then on Sunday, the Illini will face Wisconsin-Green Bay in a non-conference tilt at 2 p.m. Both games will be played at Illinois Soccer Stadium.