Four minutes into overtime, senior Niki Read was on the attack. She passed the ball to freshman Nicole Breece and then yelled for the ball back. Instead of listening to the upperclassman, Breece challenged a Michigan defender inside the 18-yard box and ended up on the ground. 

But this collision awarded the Illinois women’s soccer team a penalty kick, which junior midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo put away for her second-game winning goal this season, sealing a 3-2 victory. The game-winning penalty kick goal marks DiBernardo’s eighth tally of the season, securing her spot as Illinois’ leading scorer. 

This marked the first Illini victory in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the program’s history. Illinois (9-7-2, 6-4-1 Big Ten) has now tallied seven goals in the past two games, creating an offensive surge heading into the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday.

“It’s nice to put points up finally,” Read said. “A lot of it obviously comes from Vanessa, but it means that the players around her have helped her get in behind and draw PKs. I don’t think it’s something I’ve thought about a lot because I know it’s something we are capable of. To me, it feels like this is how it’s supposed to be, this is natural. I don’t think we are doing anything particularly amazing right now, I think we are just playing Illinois soccer and doing what we know we can do.”

The Wolverines finished the regular season third in the conference (7-2-2 Big Ten), suffering their second conference loss after falling to Ohio State (8-2-1) on Oct. 18.

Similar to past games this year, the Illini found themselves rallying from behind. Illinois out-shot Michigan 8-4 in the first half but was unable to finish the opportunities. In the 26th minute, Wolverine forward Nkem Ezurike earned the first tally of the match on a ricochet off of Illinois goalkeeper Steph Panozzo. 

“During halftime, we knew we were the better team,” senior Nicole Denenberg said. “At halftime, it was 1-0, they were winning and we knew that wasn’t accurate and that we were the ones that were supposed to be ahead. We had confidence that we knew we were supposed to win in the end.”

But it took Michigan only four minutes in the second half to double its lead. The Illini weren’t able to record a goal until the 62nd minute. After stealing a possession away from the Michigan defensive line, DiBernardo fired a left-footed shot just above the Wolverine goalkeeper, hitting the crossbar and landing in the back of the net. She continued to lead the Illini by assisting on Read’s game-tying goal in the 84th minute. Read has now scored in back-to-back matches. 

“The thing about a player like Vanessa is when everyone is contributing, she can be a part of finding those players and making sure that they continue to impact the game,” Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield said. “It was certainly a game where she did the things that she does well but also made it where everyone else can do what they do well, and that is when we are going to be best as a team.”

Illinois will have its shortest turnaround this season at the Big Ten quarterfinals, which begin Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. against No. 4-seeded Minnesota for the fifth-seeded Illini.

“I think that we really need to remember how hard we battled in these past few games we have won,” Read said. 

“The wins are great, the momentum is great and it’s awesome to be confident going in, but we need to be confident with a purpose and confident with a little plug in the back of our head reminding us of how hard we worked to be that confident. We don’t want to get too caught up in the moment because it is just one game, and we’ve got a lot more business to take care of.”

Gina can be reached at [email protected] and @muelle30.