Sept. 11, 2010

Box Score

CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Illinois women's soccer team earned its fourth shutout of the season, dropping the Cincinnati Bearcats, 3-0, on Saturday. Freshman midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo notched two goals, including the game-winner, while freshman forward Megan Pawloski added the first goal of her collegiate career.

"It was a great win for us tonight against a team which earned a successful start to its season," said head coach Janet Rayfield of the Illini's performance. "Going to Cincinnati and playing with the confidence and competitiveness we played with was a great gain for us."

DiBernardo opened the scoring for the Illini in the 24th minute. Sophomore forward Niki Read dribbled into the left side of the box, passed across to the right side where DiBernardo controlled the ball and shot from the top of the box, burying the ball into the upper-left corner of the net.

"Vanessa notched a great goal to open our scoring, coming off of a fantastic sequence of passes and movement," Rayfield said. "We are become the dynamic team we felt would make us successful this season."

With Illinois ahead, 1-0, the Naperville, Ill., native added her second goal of the game in the 39th minute, corralling a loose ball inside the box before firing a shot past Bearcats' keeper, Rachel Barnette, to double the Illini lead.

Pawloski added her first collegiate goal in the 53rd minute. Senior defender Krystin Miller pushed a ball through the Cincinnati defense to Pawloski. The Belleville, Ill., native dribbled into the left side of the 18-yard box and placed a shot into the bottom-right corner of the net to reach the final score, 3-0.

For the contest, Illinois and Cincinnati earned 13 shots each. Senior goalkeeper Alexandra Kapicka notched eight saves in net for the Illini in her first start of the season while Barnette stopped four shots for the Bearcats.

Illinois (5-1-0) returns to Illinois Soccer Stadium to host LSU on Sept. 17 with a 7 p.m. contest.