And just like that, it was over.

For five Illinois soccer players, Friday night’s game against Purdue will be the final time they take the field at home in their orange and blue. Emily Zurrer, Jessica Levitt, Marti Desjarlais, Jamie Alvis and Charlotte Cooke will conclude their home careers on Halloween night, but it’s not a trick or a treat. It’s a reality that will end too soon.

“I’m excited, but it’s going to be bittersweet too,” Zurrer said. “I just don’t want it to end. I wish it wasn’t here, but it will be fun to play in front of the crowd one last time.”

Desjarlais had similar thoughts.

“It’s our last Friday night home game under the lights, I’m going to miss that,” Desjarlais said. “It’s goes by really fast. It’s kind of hard to believe.”

In the past four years, the senior quintet has had a hand in three NCAA second-round tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 berth, three Big Ten Tournament semifinal appearances and a school record 13-game home unbeaten streak over the last two seasons.

“If you look back at the last three years, and this one, you see the steps forward that the program has made,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “This class has taken this program and made it a consistent top-25 program. They came in and set a standard for themselves and for this program that they worked really hard to maintain, and that’s hard to do over a four-year time span.”

Sending the seniors out on top is not the only reason the match against Purdue is critical. Although Illinois clinched a Big Ten tournament berth last weekend, it is still fighting for seeding position. With a win, the Illini could be as high as fourth. With a loss, they could fall as low as seventh in the eight-team tournament.

Friday’s game and the conference seeding are crucial because at 10-8, the Illini are on the NCAA tournament bubble. Illinois will likely need a win against Purdue and then a strong run in the conference tournament, probably to the championship game, to receive an NCAA berth.

Illini boosted their hopes with last weekend’s 2-0 win against Ohio State, when they broke a long scoring slump and got a huge monkey off their backs. Rayfield said “the ball hitting the back of the net was a pressure reliever” and added she could see the change in her team after their first goal in five games.

Against the third-place Boilermakers (11-5-3, 5-2-2), Illinois will have to slow down a fast-paced team that plays a similar 4-3-3 system. But the key for Illinois will be getting eight shots on goal, Zurrer said, repeating the yearlong mantra of Rayfield. Illinois is 5-0 this year when putting seven or more shots on frame.

Regardless of what happens, Zurrer and the seniors will always cherish their time in Champaign.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better college experience,” she said.

“The place and people I’ve got to experience it with couldn’t be better. If I could do it all over again in the exact same way, I’d do it in a second.”