The bus ride was unusually silent from Fetzer Field to the hotel where the Illinois women’s soccer team was staying in Chapel Hill, N.C.

It was Nov. 16, and Illinois had just finished its 2012 season with a 9-2 blowout loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament against North Carolina. The Illini were first on the board but allowed seven second half goals to the Tarheels. It was a former-player-versus-coach scenario, as Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield faced her alma mater and former coach, Anson Dorrance. It took the Illini 89 seconds to score their first goal, but they slowly fell apart over the next 89 minutes of the match. In the 29th minute,Illinois lost junior midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo to an injury. She did not return. Illinois finished the 2012 season at 10-9-4.

“I think there was a huge sense of disappointment,” Rayfield said. “Not just in the loss, but in the fact that we allowed the wheels to fall off the wagon. It was a wagon that was glued together with mental resolve. I don’t think we are disappointed that we lost, but that we didn’t perform the way that this team was capable of, that we didn’t bring the mental resolve that we had forged in the weeks leading up to that game. I think that will be something that challenges us, to have that from the moment we get back together in January until we end the season and beyond that, knowing that that resolve and that mental toughness is what holds the wheels on the wagon.”

Finishing the match without DiBernardo wasn’t a foreign situation for the Illini, who started the season without DiBernardo and Rayfield while the pair was in Japan for the U.S. under-20 women’s national team. Though DiBernardo missed seven games during Illinois’ regular season, she helped lead the U.S. to the under-20 Women’s World Cup title. The absences were known and prepared for well in advance.

“I think for all of the upperclassmen, we were use to it because it had been happening all spring,” senior Niki Read said. “There were just a small amount of girls — the freshmen, who weren’t really accustomed to it in the beginning of the year — but they really only had a week with them. Obviously, it had a lot of impact, but everyone was able to handle it well because we did such a good job adjusting.”

Having been a part of the team for a few months before losing Rayfield proved to be difficult for the freshmen class, but also provided the players with a rare opportunity of increased playing time. In the beginning of the season, freshmen Nicole Breece, Tailor Smith and Taylore Peterson had all secured spots in the starting lineup. The Big Ten season opener was the first time Rayfield was able to watch her new recruits compete for her team.

“It was probably the most difficult on the freshmen, who had played eight games and had proven themselves and now felt like they had to prove themselves again to me,” she said. “I give them a lot of credit for the maturity they showed in absorbing Vanessa back into the mix and dealing with the coaching transitions.”

The start of the conference season brought ups and downs for the Illini, who won the Big Ten opener against Iowa (2-1) and took down Ohio State (1-0), but suffered a loss to Penn State (4-0) and tied Purdue (1-1). Illinois then lost to Northwestern (2-1), giving the Wildcats their first conference victory of the season. That loss extended the Illini’s then-losing streak to three games — a unanimously acknowledged turning point for Illinois.

“I think there was a real shift after those games,” Rayfield said. “This team said, ‘You know what, we can’t look at the things that we don’t have or that we can’t do.’ We really have to go after the things and focus on the things that we can and give ourselves a mental toughness that forces us only to focus on the things that we have, the things that we can control and the things we are good at. I think once we made that transition, then you saw things start to change.”

Illinois continued on to win the last two games of its regular season against Nebraska (4-1) and Michigan (3-2 in overtime). The victories propelled the Illini to earn the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. After playing a man down almost the entire match against Minnesota in the quarterfinals, Illinois advanced into the semifinals. Coming back from a 2-0 deficit, the Illini rallied to force two overtime periods. After 110 minutes of play, the Illini came away successful against the Golden Gophers in penalty kicks 3-2.

One of the biggest accomplishments this season for Illinois was upsetting the third-best team in the nation, Penn State, a team that has qualified for the Final Four in this year’s NCAA tournament. The Illini gave the Nittany Lions their first shutout and conference loss of the season (1-0). The victory sent Illinois to the championship match, where it was unable to claim its second consecutive title, falling to Ohio State 2-1.

“No matter if it was Penn State or someone else, we were just on the field and we were going to fight,” senior Shayla Mutz said. “I think it showed a lot of heart. We could have easily just given up or been scared of the No. 3 team in the nation, but we were really confident in our own abilities and went after them.”

After an up-and-down season, Illinois’ fate for the NCAA tournament was up in the air. But the success toward the end of the regular season and in the Big Ten Tournament awarded the Illini a first-round match against Missouri. After the score remained 1-1 through two overtimes, Illinois came away with another victory in penalty kicks, outscoring the Tiger 3-0. The victory would be the Illini’s last this year, as North Carolina dominated them 9-2 in the second round.

“I think this team achieved some great things,” Rayfield said. “There were moments where I think the team reached their potential and that is always a successful season, but I think you also look and see that we had a lot of young players who have a lot of experiences now that they can draw on to make this team better moving forward. You want to always be moving forward, and I think this program, in the 10 years I have been here, in different ways every year, has always been … able to say, ‘We moved forward, that we are moving forward and this team and this program is continuing to evolve.’”

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