To kick off the Big Ten women’s soccer season, Illinois (4-3, 0-0) will travel up north to take on Michigan (6-1-1, 0-0) on Friday evening. 

Illinois is currently riding on a lot of momentum after a strong weekend in Ohio. A 5-1 win against Bowling Green and a tough, gritty 1-0 win against Toledo brought the Illini back on the right track after three tough losses at home in Demirjian Park.

“I think that’s great momentum going in, especially since we’re traveling to Michigan and being on the road and just having that under our belts, knowing that we have done everything we can to prepare,” said Makena Silber about the two wins in Ohio.

Sydney Stephens had an especially impactful weekend, as the freshman assisted all three goals in the first half against the Falcons and scored the lone goal in Rocket territory. Her five points from the weekend earned her the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week award. 

Farther down the field at the goalkeeper position, Naomi Jackson filled in at the net for Julia Cili, who is under concussion protocol. Nearly like a Brandon Peters and Art Sitkowski moment, Jackson stood her ground and had a solid start, making six saves and only conceding one goal. Her performance, according to head coach Janet Rayfield, has made a statement in the battle for the starter in the net.  

“Her confidence and ability to handle her first games under her belt has shown she certainly has the fortitude to put herself in that position to fight for a spot in between the posts,” Rayfield said.

In terms of Cili, Rayfield said she is on the right track on the protocol to have her back by Thursday if everything goes well.

Continuing with the younger players on the team, Illinois has seen several underclassmen get some good minutes and action these last seven games. 

Alongside with Jackson, Maeve Jones, Abby Lynch and Angie Galo grinded it out on the field and added to the top performances this weekend. 

Jones was the central striker and was used a lot to hold the ball up in the attacking third, Lynch came off the bench using her speed down the wing to beat defenders and Galo, already a mainstay at center back, did some great defending to stop the run of play. 

“(The freshmen) have been impacting things astronomically,” Silber said. “We can see that on the stat sheets, but this team this year, I think, is just special, and you can feel it when we go to practice and when we show up on game day. They’ve added a tier to the team that’s kind of hard to not talk about.” 

Looking at the Wolverines, they have had a strong start to their season, winning 5-0 at Butler, which Illinois suffered a 3-1 loss against. Following Butler, Michigan went on to only lose against USC in overtime and draw against Louisville, who both make nearly consistent appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Like Illinois’ fifth-years Hope Breslin and Maggie Hillman, Michigan also has some returning seniors. 

Heavy hitters Hillary Beall, Alia Martin, Sarah Stratigakis and Nicki Hernandez made their way back to Ann Arbor and have propelled Michigan into a No. 21 ranking. 

Michigan has an all-around experienced, strong and physical team on the field, but Illinois isn’t focused on that.

“We attack that by focusing on ourselves,” Silber said about Michigan’s strengths. “We know that we have all the capabilities in the world to go and face any team in the Big Ten. Michigan is a very respectable opponent, and we all are aware that this is a big game week, Big Ten opener, and I just think we take it practice by practice, film by film and break it down piece by piece and focus on what we can control.” 

Every year, the Big Ten is unpredictable in terms of final outcome. This season alone has seen several teams go on unbeaten runs, which has not happened in a while for some. 

“This league is going to be as competitive as it has ever been, so we just have to focus on being prepared for every game,” Rayfield said. “Michigan certainly presents problems that we’ll look at and scout, but we just go to prepare the best we can for every game we have from here on out in order to be the best we can be on the day. 

“The Big Ten is going to be about who can bring their A-game day in and day out, game in and game out, and that’s what we’re focusing on right now. Can we be our best self, can we follow a game plan, which will obviously involve the strengths and areas that we think we can expose Michigan, but we’ve got to really focus on being our best on the day.” 

The match will start at 4 p.m. in Ann Arbor and can be streamed on Big Ten Network Plus. 

@AngelleCortes

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