Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it better.

Friday night in front of the second largest home crowd in the program’s history, the Illinois soccer team (9-4-1, 4-2-1 Big Ten) took down No. 24 Indiana (11-2-2, 5-1-1) 3-0 in the final home regular season game that honored six graduating seniors with Senior Night.

En route to the win, senior goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens set the Illinois career shutout record with her 25th and seniors Ella Masar and Mary Therese McDonnell both scored goals in what could be the last soccer game they play in Champaign.

“Lindsey gets the shutout record, Ella gets a few goals, it was a great night for lots of reasons,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “We played great. I thought we kept our composure; this is probably the most efficient in terms of goal scoring that we’ve been.”

It was apparent from the start that it was going to be a special night for the seniors. After being honored at midfield before the game, things started off fast for the class. Senior midfielder Shannon McDonnell, starting the first game of her career, just missed a goal in the opening minutes of the game.

Moments later, Masar, who has started plenty of games in her career, showed why she is the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Taking a pass just shy of the box, Masar beat a defender and booted a left-foot shot into the back of the net for her seventh goal of the season.

Masar would add another goal in the second half before exiting the game with a back injury. The two goals led an offense that has been looking for a go-to player during conference play.

“I’ve been frustrated the last couple weeks, I kind of felt like my legs weren’t really under me,” said Masar, an Urbana native. “We took time off last week and I gave my brother a call overseas, he’s kind of my biggest supporter. He gave me some good advice and I just came out here and played like it’s peewee. I just had fun and enjoyed it and I think that really helped me out tonight.”

Rayfield praised Masar’s efforts in front of a crowd that was heavily supporting its hometown product.

“(Masar) had an opportunity to essentially show off in front of her own fans and her family and friends,” Rayfield said. “You hope everybody has a night like that sometime in their life.”

In between Masar’s two goals was a penalty-kick goal scored by Mary Therese McDonnell. After a foul in the box, McDonnell set up to take the free kick and made the shot, but an Indiana player charged at McDonnell prior to her kick, earning her a yellow card and erasing the goal. The move didn’t shake McDonnell, who hit almost the exact same spot on the retry.

The questionable play by the Indiana player capped a night of oddities on the field. There were handballs left and right, stoppages for several injuries and lots of yelling from each bench. Both sides complained of inconsistent referee calls and Rayfield and her staff approached the refs several times to complain that Indiana head coach Mick Lyon was calling for his players to illegally tackle Illinois players.

“It’s a competitive game and we all have our own coaching personalities. I have mine and he has his,” Rayfield said of her counterpart.

Between Indiana’s aggressiveness and the referee’s inconsistent foul calls, the game turned into a very physical match.

“We held our ground physically,” Rayfield said. “We talked at halftime about battling physically and fighting for every space, fighting for every ball, but not getting caught up in the foul game. The key when you are in a really physical, combative battle like that is to battle and compete without losing your composure.”

With the win, Illinois moves to two games above .500 in the Big Ten and closer to the top three teams in the conference, which includes the Hoosiers. The win also halted Indiana’s 13-game unbeaten streak.

The Illini, who have shut out their last five opponents, head to No. 5 Purdue on Sunday. The Boilermakers are the league’s most offensive team. Something’s got to give.

“It’s going to be a battle,” said Masar, who should be able to go for the game despite the injury. “We’re going to go out there and we’re going to go hard at every ball, and they’re going to come out with us. It’s always a rivalry.”