CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini soccer team is set to host Iowa and pre-season B1G favorite Penn State this week at Demirjian Park. The Illini will face Iowa on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 3 PM CT and Penn State on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 11 AM CT. Both games will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Plus, and live stats will be provided via fightingillini.com.

The Orange and Blue are coming off of a season-opening 1-0 shutout victory over Purdue last Thursday at Grand Park Sports Complex. Junior Makena Silber scored the lone goal for the Illini at the 80th minute to secure the victory for the Illini. Senior Sami Sample recorded four saves in her first career start for the Fighting Illini, and the defense stood strong throughout the game.

SCOUTING IOWA

The Hawkeyes opened their season last Saturday with a 1-0 road loss to the Wisconsin Badgers. The all-time series favors the Illini 14-9-1, with their last meeting occurring on Sept. 26, 2019, a 3-1 Iowa victory in Iowa City. Iowa was picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten this season, and sophomore Samantha Cary and juniors Hailey Rydberg and Sara Wheaton were picked as preseason B1G Players to Watch.

SCOUTING PENN STATE

The Nittany Lions come into the 2021 season as favorites to win the B1G after winning the conference tournament in 2019, but suffered a season-opening loss last Friday to Rutgers, 3-2. The all-time series between the Illini and Nittany Lions stands heavily in favor of Penn State, 4-29-0, with their last meeting coming on Oct. 17, 2019, a narrow 2-1 Penn State victory in University Park. Penn State returns reigning B1G Freshman of the Year Ally Schlegel, and seniors Kerry Abello, Sam Coffey, and Frankie Tagliaferri were named preseason B1G Players to Watch.

COMPETITIVE SLATE

The Orange and Blue set out a competitive slate of matches for the 2021 season, with every game this season being played in the B1G. Illinois' opponents this season includes defending B1G Tournament Champions Penn State (Feb. 28), B1G Regular Season Champions Wisconsin (Mar. 4) and B1G Tournament runner-up Michigan (Mar. 25).

SILBER STRIKES AGAIN

Junior forward Makena Silber scored the game-winning goal for the Illini in their season-opening 1-0 win over Purdue last Thursday. Silber now has four career game-winning goals for the Illini, with one coming in 2018 and two in 2019.

UP NEXT

The Illini begin a three-game road stretch next week, playing at Wisconsin on Mar. 4, at Minnesota Mar. 13, and at Indiana Mar. 13. The games will be streamed on Big Ten Network Plus with the exception of Wisconsin who will not have a stream due to their home games being played in Rockford, Ill.

FOLLOW THE ILLINI

Be sure to keep up with the Fighting Illini Soccer squad on social media for an even more inside look at the program. Follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, @Illinisoccer.