Sept. 11, 2005

Box Score

San Francisco, Calif. - Eva Strickland scored her second goal of the weekend just before halftime and Laura Redmond added her second goal of the season in the second half as Illinois took down host San Francisco 2-0 in front of 785 fans in its final game of the City by the Bay Classic.

The Illini finish the tournament 1-0-1, assured of no worse than second place in the four-team tournament, and move to 3-1-2 on the season. Illinois now has a five-game unbeaten streak, during which it has gone 3-0-2. It is the team's longest unbeaten streak since a seven-game winning streak to open the 2004 season.

"We felt like we controlled the game from start to finish," Illinois coach Janet Rayfield said. "We possessed the ball most of the time. Their opportunities were mostly on quick counter-attacks when we gave the ball away."

Strickland (Seattle, Wash.) scored her goal off a pass from Kristy Weeks (North Vancouver, B.C.), who had won a ball in the midfield and passed ahead. The pass caught the Dons' goalkeeper off guard and Strickland punched in a shot from 30 yards out at the 41:33 mark to give Illinois a 1-0 halftime lead. The goal was Strickland's second of the weekend and her first career game-winning goal.

"We have a consistent mentality now and that's good," Rayfield said. "It doesn't seem to matter now who the opponent is or whether we're home or away."

Redmond (Richmond, Va.) continued her Sunday scoring streak, catching the USF keeper off her line off a pass from Kelly Campbell (Gaithersburg, Md.) and beating her to the left side to make Illinois' lead 2-0. It was Redmond's second goal of the season, with the other coming Sept. 4 against Western Illinois.

Illini goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens (West Chester, Ohio) posted a tough shutout, her fourth of the season. Carstens repeatedly challenged attackers, stifling a couple of potential breakaways before the attacking forward could receive the pass.

"Lindsey had another great game today," Rayfield said. "She had to come off her line several time. She definitely earned her shutout today."

Illinois returns home next weekend to face Illinois State on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. and Indiana State on Sept. 18 at 2 p.m.