After a successful homestand last weekend, No. 19 Illinois will go on the road again for a pair of Big Ten matches against Ohio State and No. 8 Penn State.

The Illini (8-2-0) were firing on all cylinders last weekend. They added two more shutouts, bringing their season total to six, and senior striker Jannelle Flaws caught fire with five goals in the two contests.

Illinois will look to carry that momentum with it when it travels to Columbus, Ohio, on Friday to square off against the Buckeyes (4-5-0) for the first time since last season when the teams tied 1-1. Ohio State has lost its last two games at Purdue and Penn State, but will have the luxury of playing its first Big Ten home game against Illinois.

“They’re a scrappy, gritty team,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “When you get teams that are gritty and just really refuse to give in to anything, you’re always going to get a hard fought game, so I certainly expect that to be the case on Friday up in Columbus.”

Illinois and Ohio State have a history of close, down-to-the-wire matches. Neither team has allowed more than two goals when playing each other since 2009. The Buckeyes have a slight all-time series advantage against Illinois (9-8-2), while the two teams have split their nine matches (4-4-1) played in Columbus.

After a tough test in Columbus, the Illini will bring their stringy defense to University Park, Pa., to face off against the Nittany Lions’ high-powered offense.

Penn State (8-1-0) sits atop the Big Ten standings alongside Illinois, Iowa and Michigan and is currently riding a five-game winning streak during which it has outscored its opponents 20-4.

The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in both goals scored and assists. The goal scoring comes from all over the field. Penn State boasts four different players who have found the back of the net at least three times this season.

Rayfield believes limiting Penn State’s looks on the offensive end will be the key to slowing them down.

“Limiting opportunities takes the whole team because you’ve got to keep the ball on your end as much as you can,” Rayfield said. “You have to keep the ball and you want to hold onto possession, and I think both of those things will be really important for us this weekend.”

While the Illini have won two of their last four meetings with the Nittany Lions, they are 4-22-0 against them all-time and have lost all 12 matches played at Jeffrey Field. Penn State will be Illinois’ highest ranked opponent since its 3-1 loss to No. 20 Notre Dame in the season oponer.

Intimidation won’t be a factor for the Illini this weekend though.

“I think we just have to do what we do well,” Flaws said. “We can’t look at it scared going into those games. I think if we just take them head on and know that if we play the best that we can play, then we can stay with any team.”

Joey can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @joeyfigueroa3.