In the absence of freshman forward Kara Marbury, head coach Janet Rayfield has been tinkering with her lineup to find the right way to fill in for Marbury.

Marbury started all six of the games she appeared in before injuring her foot in the game against UAB. Before her injury she brought a defensive presence to the forward position alongside offensive juggernaut Jannelle Flaws.

Flaws has played beside a number of different players at the forward spot since Marbury’s injury and has nothing but kind words for anyone that has played next to her.

“I think you just have to look at the person next to you and their strengths,” Flaws said. “When Megan Green’s next to me, she’s a great person at holding the ball, (Katherine) Ratz is great at putting the pressure on and attacking backlines, (Nicole) Breece is great at turning people. I just kind of adjust a little bit to what they’re going to do next to me.”

This past weekend was a bit different since it was the first time freshman Abby Elinsky moved up from the defensive backline to midfield. She mainly played forward in high school, so playing higher up should come naturally to her.

With Elinksy moving up, freshman Sarah Warren has started the last four games on the back line and has fit in nicely, which she credits to the leadership of the other defenders around her.

“It made it so easy,” Warren said. “It really was like I was just playing with my club team again which was really nice. It feels like I’ve been playing for U of I for four years now. They talk so nice and you can see when to step and when to drop just based off the communication and it’s always positive.”

Five different players have gotten starts in Marbury’s absence, but this looks like the lineup Rayfield will stick with moving forward.

Flaws piling up records

With three more goals this past weekend, senior forward Jannelle Flaws has set the Illinois record for most consecutive matches with goal at five in a row. With her two goals in Friday’s game against Ohio State, Flaws also set the school record with four consecutive games with multiple goals. This streak ended against Penn State on Sunday.

Flaws now has 10 goals in six Big Ten contests, and 14 total for the season. The next closest goal total in the Big Ten is half of Flaws’, as five players are tied for second with seven goals.

“Jannelle Flaws is arguably the best goal scorer in the country, let alone the Big Ten,” associate head coach Jeff Freeman. “So for her to have that confidence and that mentality going forward is going to be huge for us as a team.”

Now with 40 career goals, Flaws is just four goals away from passing Vanessa DiBernado for third all-time in Illinois goal scoring.

Tara Hurless’ school record of 47 career goals is not too far off, either.

Spreading the shots

It’s no secret that senior forward Jannelle Flaws has a knack for scoring goals, but besides Flaws, the Illini have had trouble finding much offense.

Since Big Ten play began, sophomore midfielder Allison Stucky and sophomore defender Casey Conine are the only players besides Flaws to score, with one goal each. Flaws accounts for 41 percent of Illinois’ total shots and has over 50 percent of the team’s shots on goal.

In their recent loss to Penn State, Illinois held the spread-out attack of the Nittany Lions to just two goals, but couldn’t get anything going on their end. Penn State leads the Big Ten with 34 goals and features eight different players who have scored goals in conference play, as well as five different players with at least nine shot attempts.

A talent like Flaws can carry an offense very far, but if opposing defenses shut her down, the Illini will need to find other scoring options to be successful.

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