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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - On a rain-soaked Sunday at the Illinois Soccer Stadium, the Illini and Golden Gophers battled past the 100th minute, where Minnesota grabbed a 2-1 victory on a golden goal in double overtime. The Gophers scored first in the 51st minute and led until the 88th minute when senior Jannelle Flaws netted the equalizer off a penalty kick.

"It was a typical Big Ten battle where you have to make the ball bounce your way," head coach Janet Rayfield said. "We needed to keep the ball more today. We let it be a lot of 50-50 battles where physical confrontations were important. We lost the physicality battle in the midfield and that was where we lost the ball when we needed to keep it."

The defensive affair didn't see the first shot attempted until the 17th minute when Flaws fired her first of a game-high seven shots. The Illini continued to pressure in the middle of the opening period, but the Gophers ended the half strong to take a 7-5 shot advantage with all four first-half corner kicks heading into the break.

After a scoreless first frame, Minnesota found the net just over five minutes into the second half. Jossee Stiever volleyed a right cross from Katie Thyken into the net for a 1-0 lead.

The physical contest, which featured three total yellow cards and 20 fouls by Minnesota compared to eight by Illinois, was played in a steady rain during the second stanza. Illinois increased the pressure throughout the break and notched a 9-3 edge in shots in the second half, with its lone goal coming on the final attempt.

Following a Minnesota hand ball in the box, Flaws delivered her Big Ten-leading 15th goal of the season to tie it up 1-1 with less than three minutes remaining. The Glenview, Illinois, native maintained her average of just over a goal per game (1.07) and tallied the 41st goal of her career.

"This team has fought hard," Rayfield said. "The results don't show the kind of heart we have played with. We kept fighting to get that goal to send it to overtime and even had a chance in the overtime that hit off the crossbar."

In the first overtime, Illinois had the only two chances on a shot that sailed high by Flaws and a shot that hit the crossbar from senior Megan Green. Twenty seconds into the second overtime, Minnesota pushed up the field after the kick off and scored the game-winning goal off the foot of Taylor Wodnick from the right cross by Simone Kolander.

Illinois, which finished with a 16-11 edge in shots, dropped its third straight game, falling to 9-5-0 overall and 4-4-0 in the Big Ten. Minnesota moved to 8-6-1 overall and 5-3-1 in league play.

Up Next: The Illini will make their final Big Ten road trip of the regular season to the east coast, where they will play Rutgers (Oct. 17) and Maryland (Oct. 19) for the first time in school history.