In part because of pre-game routines, the Illinois soccer team has started making home victories look routine as well.

The Illini have been dominant at home this year, allowing just one goal and winning all six matches. Currently, the team carries a 13-game home unbeaten streak dating back to last season, and the routines, rituals and superstitions it performs on game days impact its success.

Each routine can be tied to a common ground – controlling what one can before the chaos of a game begins, as goalie Alexandra Kapicka said.

“In the games, there’s so many things that we can’t control, so many things that get thrown at us,” Kapicka said. “I know when I step on the field that I’m as comfortable and ready as possible.”

In an effort to control what it can, the whole team eats together at the Atlanta Bread Company at 3 p.m. before Friday night home games.

Kapicka said eating together is a way for the team to unite and focus on the game. Since head coach Janet Rayfield hands out pre-game notes on the opponent, the team can also get a better look at what is to come in the night’s game. While eating, however, there exists a routine within a routine.

“I order the same thing every meal, that’s pretty standard for everybody,” senior forward Jessica Levitt said. “(I order a) turkey sandwich, chili, banana nut muffin and a fruit cup.”

After eating, the players head back home to relax.

But the real fun begins when the team gets to the locker room.

No superstition is more legendary than Chichi Nweke’s pre-game dance to get the team loosened up. Although Nweke said she has attempted to retire eight or nine times from dancing, her teammates will not let her.

Kapicka, Levitt and senior defender Emily Zurrer all did their best to explain Nweke’s infamous dance moves, which are set to gospel singer Yolanda Adams’ “I Believe.” However, they warned it was hard to describe.

“Chichi makes up a lot of moves,” Kapicka said before cautioning that it is not a freestyle dance. “She has her set moves, but no one else does those.”

One such Nweke dance move involves turning quickly in a circle with her hand on her head, and oftentimes Nweke “throws her butt out,” Kapicka said.

Levitt emphasized Nweke’s dances always involve a lot of throwing of her head back and forth and said “controlled chaos” would be a good way to describe the dance.

The rapid head thrusts have a purpose though, as it keeps Nweke on beat and gives her bonus style points at the same time.

“She should put a patent on the moves she does,” Zurrer said.

Nweke said she does it only to energize the team before the game. She did, however, entertain the patent idea for a few seconds before thinking better of it.

“That’d be pretty cool,” Nweke said. “But I’m not sure if I’m ready to share my dance with the rest of the world. I don’t think the world’s ready for it.”

With freshman Jackie Guerra as a sidekick, Nweke is far from alone in performing. Before the first game of the year, Guerra unexpectedly broke out in the Soulja Boy dance in front of the entire team in the locker room. The dance was such a hit that teammates force her to repeat it before every home match.

Guerra loves every minute of it and even views it as part of her role.

“In the position that I’m in as a freshman, sometimes I have to work a lot harder than a lot of them because I’m new to this,” Guerra said. “When they see me have a good attitude and be excited for the game, it just shows how (everyone) should be. It’s kind of inspirational.”

While the pre-game dancing loosens the team up, it also creates lasting memories for the players to cherish forever.

“I’m always crying in there (because) I’m laughing so hard,” Kapicka said. “I’ve seen (Chichi’s) dance about 20 times, and it doesn’t get old.”

Thus far, the dancing seems to be working. Last weekend’s 3-0 and 1-0 home victories against Michigan State and Michigan vaulted Illinois (9-4) into a tie for second place in the Big Ten as it travels to Iowa and Minnesota this weekend for two crucial games.

Many of the players also have their own individual superstitions. Kapicka has one of the more meticulous ones, which is odd considering she plays a position she has zero control over the ball and must react in a split second.

While dressing, Kapicka must have both of her little socks on first. Next she puts on her sleeve, shin guard and big sock on her right leg, in that order. She then repeats it on her left leg. If she messes up, she must start over.

“It becomes this mental thing, you don’t want it bugging you or annoying you,” Kapicka said.

For Zurrer, it is the opposite, as she puts the gear on her left leg first. Like Kapicka, she will start over if she deviates from the routine. Zurrer also listens to Eminem to get pumped up just before she takes the field.

But Zurrer’s most interesting pre-game ritual is performed with sophomore Laura Knutson. Before games, Zurrer and Knutson often share a Red Bull. The last one to drink must chug, while the other chants “chug, chug, chug.” After finishing the energy drink, one of the players usually smashes the can on her head. It is the act that gets Zurrer, Knutson and others pumped for the game.

With so many different routines and superstitions, one might find the Illini soccer team quirky. Nweke thinks so at least.

“We have so many weird people on our team that nothing is really weird to us anymore,” Nweke said. “We are so weird that we’re normal now. If we had a normal person on our team, they wouldn’t fit in.”

Head coach Janet Rayfield finds her team’s routines amusing and beneficial, so long as one misstep doesn’t throw off its whole performance.

“A consistent routine can put you in the right mindset to be ready to play,” Rayfield. “I think it plays into the comfort level that teams play with at home.”

After the dancing, dressing and pre-game speech from Rayfield, the players lock arms, sway in a circle and join in a chanting ritual before leaving the locker room. It begins with a “Who are we?” yell from sophomore Christina Sahly, and a response of “Illinois” from the team. It concludes with Sahly shouting “What are we?” and the team yelling “Champions.” Then, and only then, are the Illini ready to head for the field.

“(Superstition) helps us get our mind focused for the games,” Nweke said. “It helps us bond as a team, knowing what each other is going to do.”