The Illini soccer team battled Purdue in a hard-fought 1-0 win, recording their second conference victory of the season. But while happy with the victory, the team wasn’t too pleased with Sunday’s performance.

“I think we could’ve done a lot better,” sophomore Vanessa DiBernardo said. “We didn’t play like how we played on maybe a Friday night.”

The Illini struggled as they were held scoreless throughout the first half despite several offensive chances.

“I think this was a typical Sunday Big Ten physical battle,” Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield said. “You know it’s something, I think we have to try to be better in terms of being ourselves on a Sunday and playing with energy even though we may not be as fresh as Friday.”

The Illini were able to get six shots on goal compared to Purdue’s one in the first half, but were unable to take the lead.

“It was sort of a sluggish warm-up and certainly stayed sluggish through the first half,” Rayfield said. “I thought (it went) a little bit better in the second half but it’s hard to get that engine going when you don’t start it right in the beginning.”

The only goal of the game came in the 56th minute off a penalty kick taken after Purdue’s Marta Lynch tackled Illini midfielder Marissa Mykines in the box on a breakaway.

“The thing about Marissa that’s great is she beats you and then she gets you on her back pretty quickly,” Rayfield said. “She gets around you and she’s not just ahead of you she’s between you and the ball, it makes it really difficult to get to the ball without fouling her.”

DiBernardo converted the penalty kick, putting Illini on the board, after placing the ball in the bottom left corner of the goal.

“Well, (Marissa) did everything and I just had to put it away for her especially,” DiBernardo said. “I practice those and I’m comfortable with them, so I took it.”

A highlight from the game was Illinois’ defense. The Illini controlled the ball for much of the game, holding the Boilermakers to two shots.

“Overall it was really good,” goalkeeper Steph Panozzo said. “I think our backs played very well. Jenna (Carosio) was fantastic as always and our outside backs got out there and we kept them out of our end for the majority of the game.”

Panozzo recorded her second shutout of the season, having a relatively quiet day as Purdue was only able to place one shot on goal.

“Yeah, I think this may be one of our better defensive performances,” Rayfield said. “We came in knowing we were going to have to defend well on restarts and balls flighted into the box. (Purdue is) a big, strong and a physical team that is good in the air. We battled those better than we have and as a result we had a clean sheet. I think the first clean sheet in the Big Ten, so that’s an important step for us.”

Illinois outshot Purdue 14-2. Though the offense struggled to finish on its chances, the defense stepped up and sealed the victory for the Illini.

“I think our defense is holding us up a lot and they’re not getting as much credit as they should be,” DiBernardo said. “They’re definitely keeping us in the game.”