When a player gets injured on the field, the Illinois women’s soccer team sees the situation as an advantage. The Illini refer to this as a “big five” moment, which is classified as anytime the game stops. 

The guaranteed “big five” moments of the match occur during the first and last five minutes of the half. These moments are some of the most important for Illinois. 

“We are really focusing on those five minutes to keep the momentum or regain the momentum,” senior forward Shayla Mutz said. “When someone goes down on the field, we will huddle together and talk about how the next five minutes are crucial to keep composure.”

These moments have happened more than the Illini would have liked this season. The team has continued to be inconsistent, with its players suffering from injuries throughout the season. The Illini started the season playing a four-back defensive line because of a change in defensive chemistry from last season. Losing former Illini Jenna Carosio played a huge part in this decision. 

Freshman Tailor Smith was a new face placed into the back line, where she transitioned well from high school competition before getting injured. Her injury has kept her out of most matches, and she is unable to play in her first Big Ten Tournament. 

“When I came back from Japan is when we first started dealing with that injury,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “What it meant in terms of having some stability, that we tried to lay Vanessa (DiBernardo) in on top of, we sort of became unstable. There was a whole process of putting that team back together at that point. You lose someone, a freshman especially, who has got played in and gotten confident, and now you have to start all over again.”

After suffering an injury, depending on the severity, most Illini players will sit out the next match as a precaution. Freshman Nicole Breece did so after she jumped up to win a 50-50 ball against Michigan State and was headed in the face. She stayed in the game but was later diagnosed with a concussion. This held her out of the next two games against Minnesota and Wisconsin. Though feeling frustration from not being able to contribute, Breece said she saw a different perspective from the bench. 

“You see things that you don’t see when you are out on the field,” she said. “You start to see things that you can do differently when you are out on the field. It gives me another perspective, and it lets me see what I can improve even when I’m not on the field. It gives me a chance to cheer for my team from the sidelines instead of encouraging on the field.”

Rayfield has referred to Mutz as the heart and soul of the Illinois team this year. She suffered a small ankle injury during the middle of the season that kept her out of two Big Ten games. Mutz was on the bench against Wisconsin and Northwestern. Both resulted in close losses. But her return to the field did not go unnoticed, as Mutz scored two consecutive goals in the game against Nebraska.  

“I think we have a lot of people that contribute to the heart and soul of our team, and we have a lot of leaders on the team,” Mutz said. “I think I got those goals because I had so much competitive energy built up in me from not playing and so much energy in general. We had a lot of people step up when I was out, so it was exciting to watch that.”

Though struggling with adversity the entire season, everything has seemed to come together for the Illini. Ending their regular season with two quality victories propelled Illinois into the fifth seed at the Big Ten Tournament. Though the Illini came up short in the championship game, they defeated No. 1-seeded Penn State in the semifinals, handing the Nittany Lions their first shutout and loss of the conference season.

“I think we really showed it in the Big Ten Tournament,” Rayfield said. “The heart of this team has been forged by adversity, but it’s adversity that we can overcome. It wasn’t that we didn’t have players that could step up, it wasn’t that we couldn’t do those needed things, it’s just that we had to do them in a different way. I think the heart, tenacity and the resolve that this team has as a result of that is something that can serve us very well in the NCAA tournament.”

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