On Wednesday evening in West Lafayette, Indiana, Illinois soccer’s Cinderella story ended before it could even begin.

While two lower-seeded teams won against their opponents earlier in the day Wednesday in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, the No. 7-seeded Illini couldn’t continue the trend, losing 2-0 to Wisconsin, the tournament’s No. 2 seed and the No. 11 team in the country.

While Illinois started off hot and controlled the tempo of play early in the game, the defense unraveled 25 minutes in. Wisconsin’s Kodee Williams dribbled past several Illinois defenders and tucked the ball inside of the left post, giving the Badgers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“That’s been kind of an Achilles’ heal for us all season long, our individual defending,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “It cost us big tonight.”

Cara Walls finished off the scoring 30 minutes into the game as she dribbled in from the right flank to flick a shot past Illinois goalkeeper Claire Wheatley.

The Illini would rally to start the second half, firing off six shots in the span of 15 minutes. But despite keeping the Badgers on their toes for most of the second half, Illinois was unable to put any of its 12 shots in the net. The Illini came close to scoring on two occasions, as efforts from strikers Jannelle Flaws and Amy Feher would be saved by Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Genevieve Richard. Flaws failed to score for the fourth consecutive game, ending the season on her longest goal drought in more than a year.

“We made some mistakes defensively, gave the ball away and Wisconsin is a good team,” Rayfield said. “They’re going to capitalize on those and they certainly capitalized on those in the first half and then we’re behind the eight ball at that point. They defended well, as they have done all season long and that’s why they’re advancing and we’ll go home.”

With this loss, Illinois has little hope of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Missing the tournament would mark only the third time in Rayfield’s 13-year tenure at Illinois that the Illini failed to reach the tournament. Rayfield and her team will have the consolation of having gained experience after an adversity-filled season riddled with concussions, ankle injuries and leg fractures.

“Next time, we’ll be better for the lessons we have learned this season,” she said. “What we have to hope for now is that they take everything that they’ve learned this season, the heartaches that came along with it, and learn from that and are better when we step on the field next season.”

Eliseo can be reached at [email protected].