Sept. 8, 2006

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After opening the season with four straight road games, Illinois showed Friday that a taste of the home cooking was just what it needed, breaking its three-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over Syracuse in front of 935 fans - the third-best crowd in school history - in the Illini's first match of the Illinois Tournament. The win is the 100th of Illini coach Janet Rayfield's career, with 55 of them coming at Illinois.

"Mostly it means that I've been around for a long time, but it's great to get to that because it says that I've stuck around for a long time and been persistent," Rayfield said. "I've had some great players through the years to get all those wins."

Illinois got on the board in the 13th minute when junior forward Ella Masar (Urbana, Ill.) sent a cross to senior forward Eva Strickland (Seattle, Wash.), who scored far post to the left side from 10 yards out, giving the Illini a 1-0 lead at 12:27. That remained the score at halftime despite the fact that Illinois controlled the first half, out-shooting the Orange 10-2 and not giving up a shot on goal.

"We possessed the ball a lot better tonight, moved the ball a lot quicker and made it hard for Syracuse to get pressure on the ball," Rayfield said. "In fact, in the first half our midfielders and our backs were keeping possession even better than our front-runners were."

The Illini didn't waste much time in the second half, with freshman forward Chichi Nweke (Virginia Beach, Va.) showing why she was a Top-75 recruit in the nation when she avoided two tackles in the box, stepped over a sliding defender and went upper-90 from 12 yards out at 54:41.

"She's great at getting her body between defenders and the ball, and she keeps fighting," Rayfield said of Nweke. "Those little, wiry legs just seem to find the ball and keep defenders off it."

In the 84th minute, Nweke collected her third collegiate point when her pass through the center of the box found the foot of rookie forward/midfielder Courtney Bell (Bainbridge Island, Wash.), who punched it in from seven yards for a 3-0 lead. Not to be outdone by the youngsters, senior forward Jessica Bayne (Troy, Ill.) scored the first goal of her final campaign after taking a pass from Jessica Levitt (Naperville, Ill.) at 14 yards out, turning to her left and shooting to the far corner to make the final margin 4-0.

For the match, Illinois allowed just one shot on goal and dominated possession throughout. Syracuse had only a handful of scoring chances while being out-shot by the Orange and Blue 24-5. The Illini out-cornered the Orange 7-1 and junior goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens posted her seventh career shutout, moving her into a third-place tie on the Illinois career record list.

The Illini return to the field on Sunday for a 3 p.m. match with No. 13 Auburn. The Tigers overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit against Portland State in Friday's early match to win 3-1. Syracuse and Portland State start the tournament's final day with a match a noon.