COLUMBIA, Mo. – Illinois soccer (6-0-0) shut out Missouri (2-3-1), 2-0, on Thursday (Sept. 4) to improve Illinois to its second-best start in program history. Only the 2004 team that started 7-0 has topped this beginning. Katie Hultin is now the first head coach in program history to win her first six games.
Izzy Lee has been a brick wall between the pipes all season with one of her most impressive outings tonight in her five-save shutout. It's a new single-season career high for her as it's her fifth shutout surpassing her previous best of four she set last year. Additionally, this is her 10th career clean sheet.
She made two crucial saves about 40 seconds apart from each other in the 57th minute after Missouri ramped up the pressure. The first she deflected high on a shot that was taken inside the penalty area. Next, she made her best save of the evening diving to her left as the Tigers' shot made it through a wall of traffic and punched it away with her left hand to secure the shutout.
Lia Howard scored the game-winning goal in the 47th minute just two minutes after coming out of the locker room when Emma Yee found her cutting to the middle. Howard sidestepped to get the ball to her left foot and bent the shot away from the Mizzou keeper to the far-right side of the goal, putting the Illini on the board, 1-0. It's her first goal of the season and ninth for her career, in addition to being her fifth career game winner.
Yee was dominant on the attack as she recorded a goal in addition to her assist on Howard's game winner. Yee's goal came in the 60th minute when she picked up the loose ball and split three Tiger defenders before placing it top bin for an insurance goal to make it 2-0 for the Illini.
Sarah Foley didn't score a point on the stat sheet, but she dominated the first half applying ample pressure on the Missouri defense. Right before halftime, she cut hard to the net and passed it across for a scoring chance, but Ryleigh Wood couldn't quite get a touch on the ball.
For the third-straight game Illinois was outshot (9-6) and had fewer shots on goal (5-4) than Missouri but converted on their chances and Lee shut down their attack to keep the Orange and Blue undefeated.
The Fighting Illini soccer club returns to action on Sunday (Sept. 7) for senior day in Demirjian Park when they take on Valparaiso at 1 p.m. CT.
