A soccer goal measures 8 feet high by 24 feet wide. That is 192 square feet to shoot at, but when the No. 16 Illinois women’s soccer team goes on the road, that number feels significantly smaller.

The Illini were shut out two more times last weekend on the road, losing 1-0 at Iowa on Friday night and 1-0 at Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. With the losses, Illinois (9-6, 3-3) has now been shut out in six of its last seven road games.

“You don’t win these Big Ten games on the road without capitalizing on the chances you get,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “We got to solve that.”

There were few offensive sparks in the first half Sunday, with Illinois taking three shots and the Golden Gophers just one. Unfortunately, the Illini could not muster a goal to offset Minnesota defender Krystle Kallman’s early second-half header into the back of the net.

As has been a theme during their road struggles, the Illini outshot Minnesota, 11-5. Illinois turned up the heat in the second half when it had eight shots, but Rayfield said the Minnesota defense battled a bit harder in the box and cleared several good Illinois chances late in the game. She was, however, still pleased with her team’s effort against the Golden Gophers.

“For 90 minutes, we maintained a really high level of energy,” Rayfield said. “The Iowa game the energy was low, but we made a step forward today.”

The lack of energy and an Iowa defense that played back did in the Illini on Friday. Illinois outshot its rival 10-5, but the Hawkeyes scored midway through the first half on a counterattack. And with the luxury of the all-important lead, Iowa put a host of defenders in the box to slow down the Illinois offense.

Senior midfielder Marti Desjarlais led the offensive attack with two shots on goal, and junior goalie Alexandra Kapicka had three saves.

Illinois is now 2-6 on the road, in sharp contrast to its unblemished 6-0 record at home. The players are still staying positive, and know the elusive goal will come if they keep working hard.

“Even though we lost, we got to look forward to the next game and beating the next team,” defender Danielle Kot said. “We’re waiting for that one goal to happen. I’m guessing it will start next Sunday at Indiana.”

Midfielder Jackie Santacaterina agreed.

“We need to have more confidence and know that one will come,” she said. “It’s definitely frustrating, but we still have time to prove ourselves.”

Rayfield said too often, her team lets missed opportunities early in the game on the road affect it, whereas at home, the crowd energy keeps the team buzzing.

“On the road, you get down a goal, the tendency is to feel the pressure that you got to get that one back,” Rayfield said. “We have to find a consistent mentality that we compete with regardless of the score and whether we are at home or on the road.”