Box Score
Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini women's soccer team battled rain, wind and a soggy field on Sunday, en route to a 6-0 thrashing of Ohio University in the Illini Cup at Illinois Soccer Stadium. After getting shutout in the season opener on Friday, the Illinois offense struck early and often on Sunday. Juniors Andrea Ridgeway and Tara Hurless each scored two goals on the day, while Ridgeway and sophomore Natasha Karniski each notched two assists.
Ridgeway, a St. Charles, Ill. native, got the scoring started early for the Illini with a tally in the fourth minute. Sophomore Natasha Karniski lofted a cross into the box from the right corner that Ridgeway was able to head into the lower right corner of the net past Ohio goalkeeper Michelle Meglaughlin.
"The first goal we scored, Andrea made a run and Natasha put the ball on her head," said head coach Janet Rayfield. "Getting that early goal helps. We got more confident and we knew that if we could get the ball on frame in this weather, good things would happen."
Rayfield proved to be correct, as later, in the 19th minute, freshman Jessica Bayne, of Troy, Ill., notched her first career goal to increase UI's lead to 2-0. The scoring sequence was started by Ridgeway, who found Hurless open on the left side of the box. Hurless then drove in just enough to pull the keeper out to her and served the ball back across the face of the goal where Bayne hammered it home from close range. Both Ridgeway and Hurless were credited with assists on the play. Just over four minutes later, at the 23:12 mark, Hurless would score her first goal of the game off a feed from Ridgeway to give the Illini a 3-0 first half lead.
The score would remain at 3-0 until shortly after the start of the second half when, at the 46:39 mark of the contest, freshman and Jamestown, N.C. native Quinn Reynolds headed home a Natasha Karniski corner kick for her first career goal to increase the UI advantage to 4-0.
Hurless would add her second goal of the contest in the 71st minute with a rocket from 25 yards out that hit in the upper left corner of the net. That goal gave the Rockford native 24 in her 2-plus seasons at Illinois, and moved her past Lisa Baldwin and into second place on the all-time goals scored list.
The scoring came full circle in the 80th minute, as Ridgeway got some help from the cross bar to beat Ohio goalkeeper Melissa Parra from 15 yards out to finish off the scoring and set the final score at 6-0. Senior Jennifer Smith assisted on the goal.
Sunday's 6-0 score marks the most goals scored and the largest margin of victory by an Illini team since Illinois topped Iowa State 6-0 to open the 2001 season. Ironically, that game was played on August 31, exactly two years ago today.
"Two freshman scored goals and Brittany Ward hit one off the post so we could've had three freshman in the scoring ranks tonight and that says a lot of this team's depth," Rayfield said. "Andrea (Ridgeway) and Tara (Hurless) have now started to play together, along with Jessica, and they are starting to get a feel for each other. Some of that is just timing, but we also looked at tape from Friday night and saw little things that could help them free each other up and I think that was really effective today."
The Illini out-shot the Bobcats 22-9 and held a 10-3 edge in shots on goal. Orange and Blue goalkeeper Leisha Alcia made three saves for the Illini to keep Ohio off the scoreboard. Rachel Frank replaced Alcia in the 75th minute and finished off the shutout victory. Ohio keeper Michelle Meglaughlin gave up four goals and made a pair of saves. She was replaced by Melissa Parra in the 47th minute, who allowed the final two Illinois goals and also made two saves.
"Defensively, I think we are where we want to be for right now," commented Rayfield. "We are doing some really good things defensively and not just our four backs. Our front-runners are more of a defensive presence this year as well. Those kinds of things are important for us, that is what we are talking about when we talk about team defense. They are not just forwards, they are also part of our defense and it's such a team effort this year and that's making a difference."
In the Illini Cup's first game of the day, Southeast Missouri State (1-0-1) and Oakland (1-0-1) battled to a 0-0 tie in double overtime.
Up Next: Next weekend, the Illini will embark on their only non-conference road trip, making stops in Georgia and Alabama. First, the Orange and Blue will head to Athens, Ga. to take on the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. (ET). They will then travel to Auburn, Alabama to face the Tigers on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 3 p.m. (ET).
