Coming into this weekend, the Illini soccer team had hopes of snatching two wins and moving into first place in the Big Ten.

But, after losing matches on Friday to No. 3 Penn State, 2-0 and Sunday to No. 19 Ohio State, 3-0, those title hopes are gone.

With this weekend’s losses, the Illini move to 4-3 in the Big Ten and 10-4 overall. Penn State remains on top of the conference with a record of 7-0.

“We’re down,” said forward Tara Hurless. “These were a couple of big games and it was disappointing to lose them because we felt good coming into the weekend and we played hard.”

On Friday night, the Illini stayed toe-to-toe with Penn State.

After a half of soccer, the game was knotted at zero. The Illini backfield held the Nittany Lions’ scoreless on eight shots and recorded five shots of their own in an attempt to break Penn State goalkeeper Erin McLeod’s streak of three consecutive conference shutouts.

Six minutes into the second half, Illini goalkeeper Leisha Alcia was unable to make a save and Nittany Lion forward Tiffany Weimer was right there to make her pay. Weimer, who has recorded a goal in every Big Ten contest this season, continued her streak by putting the ball into the net and giving Penn State a 1-0 lead.

In the 88th minute, the Nittany Lions added their second and final goal, when the Illini moved the team forward in an attempt to tie the game. Weimer was able to get behind the pushed-up defenders and beat Alcia for her second goal of the night.

One of the team’s goals going into the game was to shut down Weimer. Although she came away with two goals, the Illini feel like they did a good job containing her.

“Weimer is a great goal scorer,” Rayfield said. “Like every great goal scorer, she works and waits for chances that might fall her way and then she capitalizes. We made one mistake and she was able to score off it. Her second goal was what we call a coach’s goal, when we push the team forward to get a goal, leaving nobody back to defend – like in ice hockey when they pull the goalie.”

Rayfield was happy with the team’s effort on Friday.

“We played so well,” Rayfield said. “This was probably the best we’ve played Penn State for 90 minutes. It was just a tough loss and in soccer those kinds of things happen. In soccer, you can dominate, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you will come away with the win.”

After suffering the toughest loss of the season, the Illini came out flat against Ohio State on Sunday.

Ohio State took control of an emotionally distraught Illini team, taking a 2-0 lead 29 minutes into the game. The Illini recorded only two shots in the first half.

In the second half, the Illini came out with more intensity – recording seven shots – but they were unable to finish on their scoring opportunities. The Buckeyes put them away scoring their third and final goal of the game at the 89:00 mark, making it 3-0.

“Maybe losing to Penn State the way we did had something to do with it,” Hurless said. “In the first half, nobody was going hard or hustling to balls. Some players were, but we were not all on the same page. We did come out in the second half with a lot of intensity, but it was too late. We need to give 100 percent the whole game.”

Rayfield was disappointed with the effort on Sunday.

“We have displayed several times this season that we can play with the best,” she said. “If we don’t come to play day in and day out, we will not go far; if we can’t score goals, we won’t go anywhere. Knowing the expectations we have put on ourselves, we must find a way to not only be at our best every game, but keep raising the bar every game.”

With the Big Ten title out of reach, where do the Illini go from here?

“We want to finish the season hard,” Hurless said. “We want to win out the rest of the season and be ready come Big Ten tournament time. We also want to do well and get a good bid for the NCAA Tournament. There is still a lot to go.”