For the second straight Sunday, Illinois needed two overtime periods to decide a match, and for the second straight Sunday, Illinois came away without a win.

After suffering a close 2-1 loss to No. 14 Rutgers on Friday, the Illini (9-6-1, 4-5-1 Big Ten) traveled to College Park, Md., for another down-to-the-wire match against the Terrapins (5-4-6, 3-2-5).

Midway through the first half, Illinois was able to score first after a Maryland penalty set up an indirect free kick. Senior forward Jannelle Flaws’ eighth goal in her last nine games was assisted by junior midfielder Nicole Breece, who has a career-high six assists this season.

The Illini held their 1-0 lead deep into the second half behind stellar play from sophomore goalkeeper Claire Wheatley, who notched a season-high nine saves, including two on penalty kicks.

Each team had seven shots heading into halftime, but the Terrapins turned on an extra gear in the second half and outshot the Illini 21-9 for the remainder of the match. Behind its flurry of shots, Maryland netted what would be the final goal of regulation in the 71st minute, and the match headed to overtime.

Wheatley stayed on top of her game in both overtime periods, stopping five shots, including a Maryland penalty kick with 31 seconds left in the second extra period.

Neither team could score an overtime goal, and the match ended in a 1-1 tie.

“Today was another gutsy performance by our team and some great goalkeeping,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “Claire was big today, but the heart of this team was even bigger. It’s a point on the road and now we need to focus on one home game at a time and finish the season strong.”

Illinois has played in plenty of close games this seasons, but its match against Maryland ended in its first draw of the year.

Friday night’s match at Rutgers was just as tightly contested.

In the Illini’s first ever meeting with the Red Knights (11-2-1, 7-2-1), the match remained tied until the 86th minute, when Rutgers forward Amy Pietrangelo netted the golden goal off a corner kick.

“It is tough to lose on that type of a goal, but that is our sport,” Rayfield said after the loss. “We will continue to get better and we need to stay focused on that.”

Rutgers struck first with a goal midway through the first half, but Flaws answered 48 seconds later with a 50-foot goal from midfield that caught Rutgers goalkeeper Casey Murphy off her line. The goal was assisted by freshman forward Kara Marbury, who returned from a foot injury Friday for her first Big Ten action.

With two more scores over the weekend, Flaws extended her Big Ten-leading goal total to 17 on the season. She also tied student assistant coach Vanessa DiBernardo’s career goal total of 43, which is third all-time in Illinois history.

When asked about tying her former teammate’s career goal mark, Flaws shrugged it off.

“It’s not really something we bring up in conversation,” Flaws said.

There are no hard feelings though, and DiBernardo is proud of what her former teammate has been able to do.

“It’s nice to see her succeed,” DiBernardo said. “She had a few rough years here. It’s definitely good to see her be able to achieve those goals and really get better.”

With just three regular season matches left, Illinois remains in eighth place in the Big Ten with 13 points on the season.

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