As a part of Senior Night, Illinois soccer honored its two seniors, forward Megan Green and midfielder Noelle Leary, before what would become a highly emotional final game at home. 

Illinois (10-7-2, 5-6-2 Big Ten) mustered a scoreless draw against No. 11 Wisconsin (15-2-2, 9-2-2) in the final match of the regular season on Friday.

“It was definitely bittersweet,” Green said. “I’ve been dreading this day pretty much for the last couple months, but it was an awesome day. My teammates, coaches and everyone did a great job of making us feel special.”

Green and Leary were in the starting lineup together for the first time this season, and head coach Janet Rayfield thought they provided a spark for the rest of the Illini.

“It was inspirational to this team tonight to play for those seniors who have invested four years of their lives into this program,” Rayfield said. “Certainly I think this team played for them tonight.”

On a night when wind speeds reached 37 miles per hour, the Illini needed all the inspiration they could get. Playing with the wind in the first half, Illinois built an 8-3 shot advantage over Wisconsin, but couldn’t capitalize on any of their chances.

Forward Jannelle Flaws took all four of her shots in the first half before being moved to the midfield in the second half to help keep possession. She was held scoreless for the third consecutive match, her longest scoring drought since the beginning of the 2013 season.

“Because of the wind, especially when we were going against it, we really wanted to keep possession and that was kind of what we needed to do,” Flaws said. “I had to take away from my usual getting-in-from-behind mentality and just come back and try and win the ball and keep it for us.”

Even with extra help from Flaws, the Badgers outshot the Illini 13-3 in the second half, and Illinois couldn’t get anything going against the wind. However, sophomore goalkeeper Claire Wheatley kept the Illini in the match by notching five saves in the second half and using her strong leg to keep the ball out of Wisconsin’s attacking zone.

The game remained scoreless at the end of regulation, and the Badgers continued to put pressure on the Illini defense with 10 more shots in the two overtime frames. Wheatley had four more saves in the overtime periods, though, including a diving stop with seconds left in the final overtime to seal the draw. She ended the night with 10 saves.

After the game, Rayfield praised her goalie’s ability to battle through the tough conditions.

“Claire made a couple really good saves where the ball was kind of floating in and you didn’t know what the wind was going to do,” Rayfield said. “I think she did a great job tonight of adjusting to the wind and doing what she needed to do to keep the ball out of the net.”

Illinois is locked in as the seventh seed in the Big Ten Tournament, while Wisconsin remained the second seed after Michigan tied its final game on Sunday. That means Illinois and Wisconsin are set to face off again on Wednesday in Indiana in the first round of the tournament.

After her strong performance Friday, Wheatley said she thinks Illinois is primed for postseason play.

“Obviously, these games are really important, and I think we’ve shown that we can compete, and I think we can play any team in the Big Ten,” Wheatley said. “The Big Ten Tournament is a whole new game, and I’m looking forward to whomever we play.”

Joey can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @joeyfigueroa3.