IOWA CITY, Iowa. – The final regular season road matchup for the Fighting Illini soccer team saw the Illini tie the match two separate times, but ultimately fall to the Iowa Hawkeyes 2-3 Sunday afternoon in Iowa City.
The Fighting Illini (5-9-1, 1-6-1 B1G) were led by goals from redshirt senior Hope Breslin and freshman Sydney Stephens, with junior Aleah Treiterer adding an assist on the Stephens goal. The Hawkeyes (10-5-1, 4-4 B1G) was led by a hat trick from Meike Ingles and six saves from goalkeeper Monica Wilhelm.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Illinois began the match pushing on offense, looking for an early goal. Illinois earned six corner kick opportunities in the first 20 minutes of the match, seeing chances from redshirt junior's Ashley Cathro and Kendra Pasquale, which saw Pasquale's shot bang off the top post.
Defensively, Illinois shut down six Iowa chances on net, with sophomore goalkeeper Julia Cili grabbing her only save of the match. Three shot attempts were blocked by the Illini backline, and two other chances were pushed wide of the net.
Iowa kept on the offensive attack, but Illinois continued to respond to the Hawkeye chances with a strong defensive effort from the Fighting Illini. Iowa broke through in the 41st minute of the match on an unassisted goal from Iowa's Ingles. After defending another shot from the Hawkeyes, Illinois went into halftime down 0-1 with 45 minutes to play.
Illinois started the second half of play attacking aggressively, looking for the equalizer. Just four minutes into the half, redshirt senior Maggie Hillman sent a shot high above the post for Illinois' first chance of the half, and the Illini continued to push in the offensive third.
The equalizer came in the 57th minute after Treiterer sent a free kick into the box that was headed by junior Eileen Murphy, whose shot was defended off target right to Breslin who fired a left footed shot into the back of the net to tie the match at one goal each.
The Orange and Blue blocked another Hawkeye shot attempt and saw a chance from senior Ashleigh Lefevre in the 69th minute before the Hawkeyes regained the lead on another Ingles goal, putting Iowa up 1-2 in the 71st minute of the match.
Illinois responded to the go-ahead goal just three minutes later when Treiterer served a pass into the box to Stephens, who headed the ball past the Hawkeye keeper to knot the match at 2-2 with 15 minutes to play in regulation.
The Illini attack wasn't done, as Stephens sent a shot wide right of the net in the 76th minute of the match, and senior Makena Silber finding a chance in the center of the six-yard box that was saved by the Hawkeye keeper in the 80th minute.
Two more Illinois shot attempts by Cathro and freshman Angie Galo were blocked before Iowa was able to find the go-ahead goal in the 84th minute by Iowa's Ingles, netting a hat-trick to put the Hawkeyes up with six minutes left.
Illinois wasn't going to finish without a fight, finding a chance in the 86th minute from Breslin that was knocked down by Iowa, and an 89th minute corner kick opportunity set up a chance from Silber, who sent a shot wide left of the net that ended up being Illinois' final chance of the match, and Iowa grabbed the conference win 2-3.
QUOTING COACH RAYFIELD
"We showed tremendous fight and heart as a team today. We came back from a goal down twice. We created so many chances in the second half. Credit Iowa for their grit inside the box and for capitalizing on opportunities but our own mistakes cost us today."
ILLINOIS NOTES
- Illinois drops to 5-9-1 overall, and 1-6-1 in the B1G after the loss at Iowa.
- Redshirt senior Hope Breslin scored her seventh goal of the season at Iowa, the 18th of her career, and surpassed her career-high for goals in a season of six set in the 2019 season.
- Freshman Sydney Stephens scored her second goal of the season at Iowa.
- Junior Aleah Treiterer recorded her first assist of the season, the fourth of her career, in the loss at Iowa.
- Redshirt junior Ashley Cathro recorded the 12th consecutive match in which she played the full time, recording 90 minutes at Iowa.
UP NEXT
Illinois wraps up the regular season at Demirjian Park next weekend, hosting Nebraska on Thursday, Oct. 21 for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff and ninth-ranked Rutgers on Sunday, Oct. 24 for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff. Both matches will be streamed live on B1G+.
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