CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini soccer team dropped its Big Ten opener Thursday night, 2-0, against Purdue at Illinois Soccer Stadium. Illinois outshot Purdue, 15-7, but the Boilermakers scored twice in the first half and held on for the win.
"I think the way we tried to fight in the second half was a positive," head coach Janet Rayfield said. "But I'm disappointed with the mentality we played with in the first half. We have to fix that. We want to play a certain style of soccer, and when a team comes in and fights, we have to be able to answer that. We didn't do that tonight. I give credit to Purdue, they took the battle to us and we didn't respond to that."
Purdue took a 2-0 lead in the first half of the game, despite Illinois' strong defense. The Boilermakers took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute, then capitalized off of a corner kick in the 29th minute of the match. The Orange and Blue took nine shots, putting three on goal before the halftime break. Purdue fired six shots in the first half, and also racked up six fouls. Illini senior Summer Schafer led the Illini with four shots before the break, while sophomore Patricia George also had several scoring attempts.Â
Illinois came out of the break strong, holding the Boilermakers to just one shot in the second half. Illinois had six shot attempts in the second half, two from senior Taylore Peterson. In addition to anchoring the Illini defense, senior Hope D'Addario finished with two shots in the match, one on goal.
Freshman Lexi Carrier earned her first career start in Thursday's match, seeing 45 minutes of action. Senior goalkeeper Michelle Denley picked up a save on Thursday, but falls to 3-3-0 on the year.
"You try to put it behind you, learn from it and focus on the next game," Rayfield said of tonight's loss. "The next game is the most important game in the season and there is still a lot of soccer to be played. This team has to keep their head up and decide that they're going to battle when they step on the field."
The Illini are back in action on Sunday, hosting Indiana at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on BTN+, and will mark Soktoberfest. The first 500 fans to arrive on Sunday will receive a Hail to the Orange rally towel. The first 100 fans will also receive a voucher for their choice of a pretzel or brat and a drink. Carnival games and inflatables will open to the public at noon.Â
Stay tuned to FightingIllini.com for the latest on Illinois soccer.
