Women take on Ohio State

By Majesh Abraham

After two thrilling victories over the weekend, the No. 21-ranked Illini hope to start 3-0 in Big Ten play for the first time in team history, when they take on Ohio State tonight.

Tonight’s game is the first of three straight road games, which includes a visit to No. 3 Penn State, in what could be the defining stretch of the regular season.

“We haven’t even been thinking about Penn State yet,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “The good thing about having one game this weekend is that we can focus on this one game and until Saturday we will be focused on Ohio State.”

The last time the team headed to Columbus, it resulted in a 3-0 loss to then-No. 25 Ohio State. This year the Buckeyes (3-4-4) are clearly not the same, and are coming off two losses in their opening Big Ten weekend. However, this game is the first of five straight home games for the Buckeyes, a critical stretch if they hope to turn their season around.

The Illini have jumped back into the rankings after 3-2 victories over then-No. 25 Northwestern and then-No.16 Wisconsin at home. The offense provided the spark as the team quickly grabbed 2-0 leads in both games.

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“We saw our goals come from a lot of people and a lot of different things,” Rayfield said. “Our goals are a result of a lot of work, like people framing the goal, and causing problems in the box. We also have some dangerous weapons on restarts, and we were able to capitalize on them last week.”

It helps when your defenders can score points, as sophomore Mary Therese McDonnell scored the first goal of her career and freshman defender Emily Zurrer picked up two assists against the Wildcats. Zurrer proved even more vital against the Badgers, scoring the golden goal in the second overtime, earning the Illini a win and her a spot on the Soccer America’s team of the week.

“I just found out today, and I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Zurrer said. “It helps to have Kelly (Campbell), Christen (Karniski) and Mary (McDonnell) on the backline with me. They’ve definitely helped me make that transition, and it’s nice to have them back there supporting me.”

The team played both games without senior midfielder Laura Redmond; she will not play against Ohio State as she recovers from a knee injury.

“The knee is getting tighter, which is good,” Rayfield said. “It’s a long season and the 10 days of rest that she’ll get will probably make her a lot stronger for the next seven Big Ten games, which is more important than having her for this one game.”

The key in the Illini victories has offenseive play, and after a slow start to the season, it has picked up at the perfect time. The team leads the Big Tens in shots (174), and scored the most goals in the league’s opening weekend (6). Surprisingly, the usually stellar defense had a let down of sorts, allowing both teams last weekend to get back into the game, and letting Wisconsin take it to overtime.

“We had some breakdowns which the other teams capitalized on,” sophomore goalie Lindsay Carstens said. “We’re trying our best to fix those problems to make sure they don’t happen again, and get some more shutouts.”

The Achilles heel of the team this year has been its lack of consistency, which has caused them to struggle in games they should easily win. The Illini cannot have a letdown against the Buckeyes if they want to challenge Penn State for the Big Ten crown.

“The test is if we can have the same intensity, the same confidence and focus in a Big Ten road game”, Rayfield said. “In the Big Ten, the team that can win on the road is going to end up at the top at the end of the season. The test of our consistency is going to be these three next road games.”