The Illini (5-5-2, 1-2-1) cemented their first women’s soccer conference win against the Maryland Terrapins (3-6-4, 0-4-1). A penalty kick awarded to Illinois in the 16th minute, taken by leading scorer junior forward Sarah Foley, was the decider. Foley shot the ball low, winning the game and securing her eighth goal this season.
Foley had a two-game scoring drought, not putting one in since Illinois faced Wisconsin ten days ago. Despite this, Foley and her fellow Illini were constantly crashing the box and searching for those opportunities. Pulling together this win after so many close chances was exhilarating for the team.
“It felt great,” Foley said regarding converting the penalty. “It just puts us back on track, to know that we can score and that the drought doesn’t last forever.”
This win bumps Illinois up in the Big Ten from No. 14 to No. 12.
While Foley was the only Illini to score, freshman outside midfielder Lauren Seppi also played an impactful game. Seppi made multiple plays into the box and repeatedly ran down Maryland players during turnovers to win the ball back.
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“As an outside mid, it’s really important and we’ve obviously worked on it a lot,” Seppi noted. “When we defend, we defend as a team. So I think for me, that (it) was really important, honestly, to just make sure I recovered, and I was really focused on just not getting beaten (and) making sure I was there for my team.”
Illinois dominated in possession during the entire game. Most of the opening 45 was played in Maryland’s half. The Illini were regularly in the Terrapins’ attacking third. To begin, the Illini took 11 shots in the opener.
One Terrapin who forced the Illini to more than a few aborted one-on-one runs was redshirt sophomore defender Tahirah Turnage-Morales. Turnage-Morales was quick on her feet and determined to be the last line of defense. She skillfully picked the ball out of the Illini’s feet to stop runs that would have resulted in another goal.
Sophomore defender Kennedy Bell proved her capabilities multiple times throughout the match. Her ability to play all over the field without running out of gas gave Maryland a variety of avenues to beat out Illinois’ defenders. Bell was a frequent user of the give-and-go technique, following a short pass to a teammate with an instant burst to the other side of an Illinois defender that she always managed to get a foot on.
Despite taking no shots of her own, Bell was important in many looks at the net. Particularly when cutting through the Illinois midfield in the second half, she injected vital energy into the Terrapin gameplay. This additional boost from Bell and her teammates upped the shots Maryland got off as well and stopped Illinois’ shooting lead. Maryland took only two shots in the first half but managed three in the second.
Even though Maryland played a tough game, the Illini found enough to score the one goal they needed to win 1-0.
“I think we played with so much more composure today,” said head coach Janet Rayfield. “You know, we kept the ball more, we changed the point of attack, we were able to find some success on the flank especially in the first half and again defensively; I think we locked things down.”
Their composure was evident. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Izzy Lee made only one save the entire game: a shot by freshman midfielder/forward Kate Hawley in the 65th minute. Midfielders and defenders effectively cut off all other runs before ever reaching Lee in the backfield.
“I think we just have to keep getting better,” Rayfield said. “We have to take today’s performance and take the good things from it.”
Illinois will travel next week to Indiana to face their next Big Ten opponent, Purdue, looking to do just as Rayfield said.
