The Illinois women’s soccer team held a 1-0 lead over Indiana for almost an hour Sunday, but it wasn’t enough.

With 15 seconds left in regulation, senior midfielder Kim Grodek scored, to the elation of the Hoosier fans sitting in the stands at the Illinois Soccer Stadium.

“Obviously it is a disappointing result, losing the game with 15 seconds left,” said Illinois assistant coach Eric Bell. “But going into overtime we thought we played pretty well.”

The teams continued through two sudden-death overtimes, but neither would come out on top. The teams finished the game tied at one.

“We just realized that we have to play for a full 90 minutes,” said senior goalkeeper Leisha Alcia. “It’s disappointing letting in a goal with 15 seconds left. But, we’ll learn from the experience.”

For many of the Illini, though, it was one of their last times playing at home. The team celebrated Senior Day on Sunday, honoring six seniors including Alcia, Paula Faherty, Alaree Gunville, Tara Hurless, Andrea Ridgeway and Christine Sinak. However, they will have one more home game Oct. 27 against St. Louis.

“We’ve been riding that wave, as far as their leadership all year,” Bell said. “And, from a leadership standpoint, I thought they did very well.”

The Senior Day celebration started with speeches from the coaches and a presentation of the seniors on the team. The Illini hoped it would end in a victory.

“We wanted to play for (the seniors),” said Illinois sophomore defender Sarah Brown.

Brown scored Illinois’ lone goal during the game against Indiana off an assist by senior forward Hurless. On Friday night, Brown scored her first goal of the season, a header, in the second half against Purdue to seal the victory for the Illini. Illinois topped Purdue 2-1.

Brown said she thought the momentum from Friday night’s victory carried over, and the excitement from Senior Day added to the team’s preparedness.

“We came out strong, we were pinging it around and we were in the box a lot. We just didn’t put it in all the time,” Brown said.

Despite tying the game, Bell said, he thought the women did not manage the game as well in the second half as they should have, which let Indiana back into the game.

He said he would have liked to have seen the women attack more offensively, especially considering the physical nature of the Big Ten conference and the game. Indiana tallied 15 shots on goal to Illinois’ nine.

“It’s going to be physical; it’s going to be hard,” Bell said. “It’s going to be a game where both teams are going to be spent.

“We gave the ball away too much and gave them the opportunity to win the game in the final minute,” said Bell, who was impressed by how well the defense responded. “Leisha Alcia had an outstanding game from in the goal as far as making some big-time saves to keep us in the game, especially during the final minutes of the game and in the overtime.”

Alcia collected 13 saves Sunday – six in the first half, seven in the second half and one in overtime. But she credited the entire defense for working together and playing well.

“Our defense played well all game,” Alcia said. “We just played well as a unit.”