The Illinois soccer team kicked off the season with a pair of wins last weekend, however this weekend saw a different outcome.

The team’s played its first game Friday against major-conference competition Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

The Illini played their most hard-fought match of the season in a 3-2 overtime loss. Illinois tied the game late but Missouri secured the victory with a 96^th minute penalty kick goal.

“It was 100 miles per hour,” head coach Janet Rayfield said in a statement. “These are the games you have to bounce back from if you’re going to be there at the end of the season.”

Sunday night was another tough loss for the Illini, losing 1-0 to St. Louis. The Billikens got out early and never let go despite some late tries from Illinois. SLU took the lead on a third-minute penalty kick.

However, the strategy for the Illini on Friday night didn’t go as planned against Missouri.

Illinois wanted to play a full-90 minutes against Missouri.  While Illinois defeated in-state rivals Illinois State last week, the Redbirds put the pressure on in the second half after an Illini-dominated first. In the Tigers’ first match of the season, a win against Central Arkansas, they put together three unanswered goals in the second half.

The Illini started the scoring early on against Missouri. Sophomore Patricia George scored her first career goal to give Illinois the lead.

George’s goal was the Illini’s first from a forward this season: The team entered the season looking to fill an offensive void left by graduating all-time goals leader Janelle Flaws. In the first two matches for the Illini, all the scoring was provided by the experienced veteran midfielders.

While Flaws led the Illini in all major offensive categories last season, the team’s second leading scorer finally put one on the board Friday night. Kara Marbury scored the Illini’s second goal in the 82^nd minute to tie the game and send it into overtime.

While the Illini defense dominated Morehead State as well as the first half against ISU, Missouri  put the pressure on the Illini back line. Michelle Denley was back in the net for Illinois after two shut-out victories last weekend. While Denley was credited with six saves, the attempts were too much.

Missouri put up 24 shots, more than Denley faced in the first two matches combined and the Tigers outshot the Illini 13-3 in the first half.

While Mizzou unleashed a barrage of shots, the Illini had trouble finding scoring opportunities. They made the few they had count, putting up only two shots on goal and scored on both. In total, the Illini finished with seven shots, a far cry from the team’s 25 shots against Morehead State and 15 against ISU.

Illinois again struggled offensively against Saint Louis, especially in the first half. The Illini failed to put up a shot in the first 45 minutes of play. The team was on the attack in the second half but was not able to find the net, even with some strong opportunities in the last ten minutes.

“We came out flat in the first half,” Rayfield said in a statement. “We’ve got to change our mentality about the game, certainly we worked a lot on defense, but the way you win games is by scoring goals.”

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