Illinois women’s soccer head coach Janet Rayfield has retired following the end of her team’s season. She was the winningest head soccer coach in Illini history.
As a player, Rayfield spent her collegiate career at UNC after being recruited by one of the most successful coaches in college athletics, Anson Dorrance. Rayfield had a legendary career for the Tar Heels. Her junior year, she led UNC to a staggering 23-0 record. The Tar Heels were unstoppable on their path to winning the final Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) championship. Rayfield was awarded Nike Player of the Year, All-America honors, and was named a top-10 American soccer player, male or female.
The following year, she aided her team through the inaugural NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship, beating Central Florida 2-0 for the first NCAA trophy.
Rayfield still dominates Tar Heel history over 40 years later. She still holds three program records: goals in a single game, points in a single game and goals per game in a season with 6 goals, 12 points, and 2.5 goals/game, respectively. Rayfield continued to play post-college, joining the Ladies’ Football Club in Dallas from 1983-1990. She captained the squad and led the team to three titles in her time there.
She had her first coaching gig for the Arkansas Razorbacks from 1990 to 1993 as an assistant coach before moving to a head coaching role from 1993-96. In her six seasons, she had a record of 45-64-7. She racked up many coaching accolades in this time, including coaching the 1996 SEC West Champions, two SEC Tournament finalists, four All-Region players, six All-SEC players and 27 Academic All-SEC performers.
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Rayfield made her way to Illinois in 1999 as assistant coach to Tricia Taliaferro. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that Rayfield had her inaugural season as Illinois soccer head coach. She coached the Illini to a 9-11-1 overall record with a 4-6 conference record. The Illini made it to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, defeating Penn State in round one.
The following two seasons, the Illini saw 16 wins apiece. In 2003, Illinois finished second in the Big Ten and were Big Ten Tournament champions at 16-4-3 overall. In 2004, Rayfield’s Illini went 16-6-2, but finished fourth in the conference and lost in the NCAA Elite Eight. After that season, Rayfield’s success would continue, as her Illini wouldn’t miss the NCAA Tournament from 2003 to 2009.
Rayfield’s most impressive season at the helm was 2011, where Illinois went 17-5-2 and won the Big Ten Tournament. They finished second in the Big Ten. The offense was the 26th highest scoring offense in the country by the end of the season with 142 points, 53 goals and 36 assists, making it the highest scoring offense Rayfield led.
Rayfield’s team was on an 11-game win streak going into a match against defending National Champions, Notre Dame, in the NCAA tournament first round. In this match, the Illini became the first team to beat the defending champions in the first round since the tournament had been created 30 years prior. Illinois prevailed in a historic 1-0 victory, adding to the already iconic season.
This victory against Notre Dame was the team’s 17th of the season. It marked the program’s highest victory total in a campaign. Previously, the program-high was 16 wins, a record Rayfield set three times prior in 2003, 2004 and 2006. She won Big Ten Coach of the Year for her leadership during the 2011 campaign.
The next year, Rayfield also coached the Illini to their first ever win versus a top-3 team. Illinois bested No. 3 Penn State 1-0 in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals.
Throughout her coaching career, Rayfield developed seven Big Ten Players of the Year, including Ella Masar, who is the current assistant coach of the Chicago Red Stars and was drafted ninth in the 2008 Women’s Professional Soccer draft, and Vanessa DiBernardo, a current player for Kansas City in the NWSL who was drafted fourth in that league out of Rayfield’s program in 2014.
After giving 23 great years to the program, Rayfield holds an all time record of 234-183-45 with Illinois. She led the Illini over 23 years to two Big Ten Tournament championships and developed both players and program alike. Her absence leaves big shoes to fill for her successor.
