Sept. 21, 2007

Final Stats

LAWRENCE, Kan. - The No. 25 Illinois soccer team picked up its third straight victory with a 2-1 win over the Kansas Jayhawks (1-6-1) on Friday at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. Junior defender Emily Zurrer and sophomore forward Chichi Nweke each notched a goal as the Illini improve to 4-2 overall.

"This was an important win because when you're on the road in a tough environment, it's hard to generate energy for your team," head coach Janet Rayfield said. "We held our ground and fought through that, so it was a good gut check for us."

After a scrappy battle through the first half, the Illini got on the board just before the break when Zurrer took a cross from sophomore forward Courtney Bell and headed in a shot between two defenders. It was Zurrer's third goal of the season.

The Illini made it 2-0 in the 55th minute when senior midfielder Kara Gostisha won a ball after a scramble in the middle and passed it to Nweke, who broke away from the defense and blasted a shot over Jayhawk goalkeeper Coleen Quinn for her first goal of the season.

"Coming off the win against Florida, we had to find some energy and rhythm against a Big 12 opponent who's hungry for a win," Rayfield said. "Chichi [Nweke] scored a great goal, and sometimes it's that scrapping and fighting that makes the difference in the game."

Still down 2-0 in the middle of the second half, Kansas began to increase the pace. The Jayhawks managed their first goal of the game in the 81st minute when senior Nicole Cauzillo collected a corner kick in front of the box from and fired a shot to the far post past Illini goalkeeper Alex Kapicka. Kapicka replaced Lindsey Carstens, who exited the game in the 60th minute after a collision with a Jayhawk player. Carstens gathered three saves against Kansas and is expected to return for Sunday's match.

"[Kansas] tried to send numbers forward, playing over the top, and that's what we're going to see in games when we're ahead," Rayfield said. "We talked a lot this week about how to protect the lead when we're up and I think our backs continue to get better at reading the game."

The Jayhawks tried frantically to tie up the match in the closing minutes, but the Illini defense staved off the Kansas attack to come away with the 2-1 victory. Overall, Illinois out-shot Kansas 13-8, while the Jayhawks owned a 4-3 corner advantage.

Illinois will head to Indiana State on Sunday for its final non-conference match of the season. The game begins at 1 p.m. (CT) at the ISU Soccer Complex.