Illinois soccer (10-7-2, 5-5-1 Big Ten) traveled to Minnesota (11-6-2, 4-5-2) on Thursday with their season on the line. The Big Ten Tournament will be hosted at Illinois Soccer Stadium starting Wednesday, and the team remained determined to participate and not be bystanders.

In a brilliant eight-minute turnaround, Illinois scored three goals to defeat the Gophers 3-1 and guarantee a top-six seed vying for the Big Ten trophy.

“We wanted this senior class to have more games,” head coach Janet Rayfield said. “They know every win gives them one more game to play with this class and certainly I think this class is an inspiration.”

Illinois dominated possession and created more chances than the defense-oriented Minnesota team but was unable to capitalize in the early going. The first half was scoreless, and it wasn’t until the second half that the deadlock was broken, against the run of play. Minnesota’s sophomore forward Haley Helverson put her team ahead in the 53rd minute.

“The thing about a stingy defense like Minnesota is the first one is the most difficult,” Rayfield said “You have got to try to break them down with a chink in the armor.”

It proved difficult to find that chink within a Gophers defense that had conceded 10 goals in 1026 minutes of Big Ten play. It took the Illini 68 minutes but they finally got on the scoreboard through team top scorer Jannelle Flaws. Flaws strike on the breakaway marked a NCAA-leading and school record 20th of the season.

After getting the equalizer, the Illini sent more numbers in the attack to find a winner. The team’s gamble was rewarded as the game-winning goal came from freshman defender Casey Conine in the 75th minute. The Leslie, Mich., native’s go-ahead tally was her third goal of the season, and it was followed by an own goal a minute later.

“If you look at soccer games, we talk about the five minutes after a goal is scored,” Rayfield said “There are a lot of times where multiple goals are scored because there’s a shift in momentum. They defended well for 65 minutes but to let in a goal, there is that deflation. We wanted to take advantage of that swing in momentum.”

Illinois now looks ahead to Nov. 6, when the Big Ten Tournament begins in Champaign, and will attempt to make a run for the title. After seeing limited minutes in today’s game, the team is hoping captain Vanessa DiBernardo will be back to help them in that attempt. While she is a welcome re-addition, Rayfield has highlighted the team’s growth in confidence without the midfield maestro playing. The team has compensated for her loss with other players taking more responsibilities, and if they are to stand a chance at the trophy, Illinois will need more of the same.

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work,” Conine said. “We need everybody to play their hardest. We’re ready and hungry. It’s our home turf, so we’re excited.”

Lanre can be reached at [email protected] and @WriterLanre.