EAST LANSING, MI. – The Fighting Illini Soccer team defeated Michigan State 2-1 in a late-game thriller Sunday afternoon at DeMartin Field.
Makena Silber earned her third game-winning goal of the season on a beautiful feed from Kendra Pasquale in the 83rd minute. Eileen Murphy scored her second goal of the season on a corner-kick from Aleah Treiterer, her third assist of the season.
The first-half was a defensive battle between the Illini and the Spartans, with each team being held to just three corner-kick opportunities and the strong defense of the orange and blue holding the Spartans to zero shots on frame. In the 40th minute, Aleah Treiterer served up a corner-kick to the left of the goal when Eileen Murphy headed the ball off a Spartan defender and into the goal for her second of the season. The Orange and Blue went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
In the second period, the Illini again held strong defensively while the Spartans struggled to find offensive opportunities. Michigan State scored the equalizing goal in the 79th minute off of a free-kick set piece to tie the game with 11 minutes to go. Just four minutes later, Eileen Murphy served a ball towards the left of the goal to a bounding Kendra Pasquale, who centered the ball to Makena Silber where she put the ball in the back of the net that ended up being the game-winner for the Illini.
The Illini improve to 5-4-1 and sit squarely in the race to host a Wild-Card Weekend matchup at 1.60 points per game, good for sixth in the conference.
UP NEXT
The Illini are set to travel to in-state rival Northwestern next Saturday, Apr. 3 for their final regular-season B1G matchup. Kickoff is set for 1 PM CT on BTN+.
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