At the beginning of the season, there was one thing that was clear with the No. 11 Illini – they wanted to win the Big Ten regular season championship.

The quest for the title begins this weekend, when the Illini travel to Michigan State on Friday and No. 25 Michigan on Sunday.

With the start of conference play, the Illini know it is going to be an intense weekend.

“Every Big Ten game is a battle,” said Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield. “There is so little difference between the top and the bottom. A goal in the middle of the season can be the difference-maker between a Big Ten tournament appearance and staying home.”

The trip north comes after an emotional victory against No. 8 Kansas, in which the Illini defeated a top-ten opponent for the first time in program history.

“We’re very excited,” said freshman forward Ella Masar. “I don’t think we could do any better than coming into Big Ten play 6-0.”

In the Kansas match, the Illini were the underdogs and used that as motivation in the game. This weekend, they will have the targets back on their chests, especially after winning the Big Ten tournament last fall – and that is fine with the Illini.

“That’s what we want,” Masar said. “They’ll come in thinking they can take us and that we won’t play them as hard, but we will come at them and take it to them.”

Michigan State comes into play on Friday with a record of 6-1. In their last game, the Spartans lost to No. 24 Rutgers.

If the Illini are going to be successful, Rayfield said it will be important to contain Spartans forward Emma Harris. Harris has accounted for four of the Spartans’ 19 goals scored this season.

Along with Harris, the Spartans feature goalkeeper Erin Carlson, who earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 6, and first-team All-Big Ten midfielder Abby Shepherd.

When the Illini travel to Ann Arbor Sunday, it will be a rematch of last year’s Big Ten Tournament championship.

The Wolverines are 1-2 against ranked opponents this season. They defeated No. 22 Boston but dropped games to No. 13 Texas and No. 5 Texas A&M.; They boast last week’s Big Ten Player of the Week, goalkeeper Megan Tuura.

With the Illini facing two top-notch goalkeepers, getting the ball in the net will be a factor.

“We could have finished on more opportunities (in the Kansas game),” said sophomore forward Jessica Bayne. “We were only able to get one goal and most of the time one goal is not enough. If we finish better, we can take the pressure off our defense late in the game.”

Rayfield said the Illini will continue to work on finishing their scoring opportunities, but it is something that will come around as the season progresses.

“It is obviously something we should be doing better,” Rayfield said. “We have lots of firepower and we should be scoring more goals. We’ll continue working on it, but it is something that I think will get better as we play more and more together as a team.”

After this weekend, the Illini will have played three games in five days. Although fitness may become an issue, Rayfield believes it will prepare them for the end of the season, when the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament take place.

“Fitness is an issue and mentality is an issue,” Rayfield said. “In the scenario we have created, we have just played a miniature Big Ten tournament with three games in a short period of time and now this weekend poses as the NCAA tournament facing Michigan State and Michigan. This is the type of schedule we need to be accustomed to and have the ability to be consistent.”