For the final two home matches of the regular season, the Illinois soccer team will face Michigan and Michigan State. These matches will very likely determine the chances of the Illini making the Big Ten Tournament in early November, held in Champaign this year.
“I think for us right now, we control our own destiny,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “I think if we get results in these next three games, then that gives us a chance in the Big Ten Tournament.”
“Results” in this case mean wins, and perhaps only one tie. Only the top-eight teams in the conference will advance to the tournament. Illinois is currently tied for seventh in the standings with Iowa, which means wins are needed to secure that last qualifying spot. Purdue is ranked ninth and Minnesota is ranked 10th, and both are within three points (or one win) of that final qualifying spot.
First on the agenda though, Illinois will have to survive its Friday night match against the No. 10 Michigan Wolverines (12-2-1, 6-1-1). The Wolverines will bring the best defense in the Big Ten to Illinois Soccer and Track Stadium. They have allowed just nine goals this season.
Offensively, Michigan can also be dangerous. Senior Nkem Ezurike is an especially athletic forward who has scored 10 goals this season with seven assists. She is also Michigan’s all-time leading scorer with 45 goals. To prepare for the threat Ezurike poses to the defense, Illinois practiced with a forward playing higher up the field.
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“We’re kind of just going through how they may play,” senior midfielder and defender Kassidy Brown said. “But I think a lot of times we don’t try to match our style of play with theirs. We try to play our own style.”
On Sunday, Illinois will host Michigan State (8-6-2, 2-6-0), as the team also celebrates its senior day. The Spartans are the second-worst team in the conference standings, just ahead of Northwestern. Still, they have shutout wins against the teams vying for those last Big Ten Tournament spots in Minnesota (3-0) and Purdue (4-0). The Spartans also began the season unbeaten at 6-0-2 in nonconference play.
Illinois will also be monitoring the health of two key players. Junior forward Jannelle Flaws took a hard hit to the head against Penn State last Sunday and was removed from the game for a while.
“She looks a little bit like Rocky right now,” Rayfield said. “(She) certainly has the shiner to show for her efforts but seems to be OK.”
Flaws’ eye was cut and it required stiches, but Rayfield said she expects her star forward to be ready for Friday. There were no concussion symptoms, and she participated in practice this week.
On the other hand, senior midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo is still nursing a sprained knee that has kept her completely out of the last six matches in which the Illini were 2-4-0. Although Rayfield says they have seen more progress in the past 10 days or so than they had in the first couple of weeks, they are still uncertain about her status moving forward.
“I definitely want to be out there as soon as I possibly can,” DiBernardo said. “But I have to think of my health.”
Alex can be reached at [email protected] and @AlexOrtiz2334.
