The Illinois soccer team defeated Butler, 2-1, Thursday in Indianapolis. Illinois improved their all-time record against the Bulldogs to 3-0-0, but Thursday’s game was the first time the Illini played Butler away from Champaign.

The game started with an Illinois goal at 17:56 by senior forward Kelly Maday, her first of the season. The remainder of the first half was relatively quiet with no subsequent scoring or yellow or red cards.

The second half was livelier than the first. At 49:45, Butler forward Macy Miller got a yellow card, the first of two within the first ten minutes of the second half. Senior defender Lexi Carrier got the second and final yellow card of the game at 54:40.

Scoring-wise, the game picked up a little. At 57:26, freshman midfielder Eileen Murphy scored a penalty kick goal to make it 2-0 for Illinois.

Butler forward Anja Savich scored Butler’s only goal of the night at 70:16, and there was no more scoring for the rest of the game.

Despite only scoring once, Butler had 20 shots on the evening, with eight shots on goal. Illinois had four shots, three of which were shots on goal. Senior goalie Jaelyn Cunningham had seven saves on the evening.

“Butler is a team that is very good at home, and expects to win at home,” head coach Janet Rayfield said, per fightingillini.com, “They really came at us in the second half and pressed higher. I think we sat in a little bit too deep and let them come at us, but we weathered the storm. Getting a win on the road at Butler, a place that’s really hard to get those wins, is something we feel really good about.”

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