For the Illini this year, the Illinois Soccer Stadium has been their refuge after bad performances. Coming off two straight losses for the first time all year, the Illini will need all the help they can to right the ship and contend for the Big Ten title.

The No. 26 Illini (7-4-2) have only lost one of their last 14 home games and hope to continue that success tonight at 7 p.m. against Michigan (6-5-2), and No. 28 Michigan State (8-3-3) on Sunday at 1 p.m. The home crowd will be a welcome sight after two straight weeks on the road, and two tough losses last weekend, in which the Illini dropped from first to fourth in the Big Ten standings.

“Two losses over the weekend is a disappointing result,” said head coach Janet Rayfield. “There were different problems on Friday and Sunday. On Friday, we were tentative, and on Sunday we were a little bit complacent.”

The Illini just could not muster enough offense against the Nittany Lions and were done in by the scoring exploits of All-American forward Tiffany Weimer, who has scored two goals against the Illini, in each of the last three match-ups.

The outcome looked brighter in Minnesota, when senior forward Natasha Karniski scored just three minutes into the game. However, the Golden Gophers scored two quick goals after halftime to come away with a victory.

“The team needs to focus on battling and our mentality for the whole 90 minutes or however long the game lasts,” Karniski said. “We should learn from these games, and take these to heart, and everything should come together soon.”

Michigan is coming off its first home loss of the season last weekend to Wisconsin and is struggling to live up to expectations this season.

The Wolverines started off as No. 17 in the country but have fallen completely out of the poll and are looking to salvage their season in hopes of a ninth straight NCAA Tournament bid. The Wolverines beat the Illini 1-0 in Ann Arbor last year, and lead the all-time series 7-3-1.

“Michigan is a great team, and they’ve got some goal scorers,” Rayfield said. “It’s a team you expect to be at the top of the Big Ten and still has a chance to be. It’s a team that just hasn’t got the results, even in games that they’ve dominated. Michigan State has battled and fought and managed to get results and that’s just how the Big Ten is. There are some really good teams at the bottom, and some teams who have battled their way to the top, but you got two teams who are going to come in here and fight.”

Michigan State might be the surprise of the Big Ten this year, as it is off to its best start in conference play since 2002. The Spartans, coming off two straight victories against Wisconsin and Northwestern, are currently third in the Big Ten Standings.

They are led by Big Ten player of the week Emma Harris who scored four goals over the weekend. The Illini beat the Spartans 1-0 last year in East Lansing and lead the all-time series 7-3-0.

For the Illini, a characteristic of the team that was exposed last week is the lack of a true star, like Tiffany Weimer or last year’s All-American forward Tara Hurless.

“With Penn State’s Tiffany Weimer, you can always feel like there’s someone whose always going to make a difference in the game,” Rayfield said. “What this team has to do is say that there is going to be someone, but we just don’t know who its going to be every time. Everybody has to work as hard as they can work, and someone will step up for that game. To be honest in the long run that might be the best thing, because no one knows who to try to shut down.”

Consistency has been the biggest weakness for the Illini this year. Just when it looks like the team might have finally come together, they endure a weekend like last weekend and questions arise over this team’s true potential.

The Illini will have to live up to their potential to beat both teams this weekend and rejoin the race for the Big Ten title.

“There’s been times when we’ve lost our confidence, and there’s been times when we’ve lost our willingness to battle,” Rayfield said. “Those are the two things that we’ve got to talk about this week. We should step out on the field with confidence and a willingness to battle, because the talent and the organization on the field have been there every game.”