Aug. 27, 2006

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 13 Illinois came across a stumbling block Saturday, dropping a 5-0 contest to Missouri in the championship match of the Nike Tiger Invitational in front of 439 fans at the Audrey J. Walton Complex. The Tigers struck early against an Illini defense missing starting keeper Lindsey Carstens and never let up as Illinois fell to 1-1 on the season. Illini midfielders Kristy Weeks and Marti Desjarlais were named to the all-tournament team by a vote of each team's coaching staff.

"They made a statement that this game was going to be a physical battle, and we didn't answer that call until the second half," Illinois coach Janet Rayfield said. "At that point it was too little, too late."

Mizzou jumped out to an early lead with a header off a free kick at 2:04 of the first half and added two more scores in the first 15 minutes of the match for a quick 3-0 margin. That score held until halftime, but the Tigers tacked on another goal in the 49th minute and added a final score at 76:26 for the 5-0 victory.

"In the first half, we didn't win a 50-50 ball, so we couldn't generate any offense because we couldn't get the ball," Rayfield said. "They didn't get it and keep it, they got it and put it right on goal. They knew we had a freshman keeper in and they went right at her."

For the match, the Illini out-shot Mizzou 16-15, but the Tigers held a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal. Illinois out-cornered Mizzou 8-2, giving the Illini a 15-4 corner kick margin through two matches this season.

"We learned some great lessons today about ourselves, and it's great for us to have it happen now and not in the first game of the Big Ten season," Rayfield said. "We had found success when we didn't have all the right pieces, and today said that won't always happen. Now we know that there's a good amount of work ahead of us to be ready for the Big Ten season and that's OK."

Illinois returns to the field next Friday, Sept. 1, at Texas A&M at 6 p.m. in the first of two Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge matches the Illini will be playing. The Orange and Blue travel to Texas two days later for a 1 p.m. match with the Longhorns.