Moline's Musings
Soccer Preview - Illinois State
Posted by: Brian Moline
Thursday, August 20, 2009 2:11 PM
Friday August 21st: Illinois vs. Illinois State
Location: Illinois Soccer Stadium, Champaign
2009 Records: first regular season game for both sides. Illinois 1-0 exhibition, Illinois State 1-0-1 exhibition.
2008 Records: Illinois - 12-9-2 (T5th Big Ten, 3rd round NCAA Tournament) Illinois State - 11-8-1 (T1st Missouri Valley, no postseason)
Forwards: Illinois returns its top scorer from a season ago in senior Chichi Nweke, who tallied seven goals for the Orange and Blue in 2008. However, no one else on this year's roster scored more than a pair of goals last season. Redshirt junior Christina Sahly should see extended playing time for the first time in her injury-plagued career. She tallied the lone Illini goal in a 1-0 exhibition win over Cincinnati. Also watch freshman Niki Read, who may make the most offensive impact of any freshman since Nweke burst on the scene with eight goals in 2006. The Illini struggled to score in 2008, but should have more viable goal scoring options up top in 2009.
Illinois State loses its returning scorer from a season ago (Mel Routledge), but returns three forwards who scored at least three goals in 2008 (Jessica Carlson, Mary Sahm, Alyssa Schulz). Carlson put up a hat trick in a 4-1 exhibition win over IUPUI last weekend. Newcomer Kelly Rosenthal accounted for the Redbirds' fourth goal in the win over IUPUI.
The Illini have the advantage if Nweke can play tomorrow night. Her speed on the flank will be tough for the Redbirds to deal with. Indications from practice this week are that Nweke should play, but may not start. Look for Sahly and Read to connect with each other for at least one goal tomorrow. Both players are very skilled with the ball and have the ability to score from distance.
Advantage: Illinois
Midfield: The Illini will be without their best ballwinner in the midfield, senior Jackie Santacaterina, who broke a bone in her foot playing in the W-League this summer. She is back on the practice field this week, but likely won't return to game action until UCLA on 9/4. Without Santacaterina, the Illini still have plenty of experience, with senior Courtney Bell and junior Cory Steigerwald as returning starters from last season. Sophomore Jenna Carosio, who saw limited action as a freshman, is likely to get the starting nod in Santacaterina's absence.
Illinois State boasts a preseason all-Missouri Valley player in its midfield. Senior Raquel Rattray did not play in ISU's most recent exhibition contest against IUPUI, so we'll see if she is on the pitch tomorrow night. If so, she provides some offense out of the midfield for the Redbirds, as she tallied three goals last season.
Without Santacaterina, the Illini still have enough experience to control possession. The only question is, will they win the majority of the 50/50 balls here?
Advantage: even
Defense: If there's one area where the Illini are still sorting things out as they open the season, it's on the back line. Junior Danielle Kot was an all-conference selection a year ago, and her leadership will be huge as some new faces work their way into the rotation. Sophomore Julie Ewing started several matches at the left outside back last year, and brings an attacking presence from the back line. Starters at the other two spots haven't been completely settled yet. Junior Krystin Miller has moved from the midfield to center back, and looked pretty comfortable against Cincinnati. Right outside back is the most up in the air at the moment. Returning starter Brittany Garrett had offseason ankle surgery, and isn't quite 100 percent yet, though she did get some minutes against Cincinnati. The other two players who are battling for that spot are sophomore Caitlin Dombart and junior Laura Knutson, who played as a forward her first two seasons at Illinois. The good news is that Rayfield has been pleased with everyone's progress through fall practice. The bad news is that no one has really seperated themselves as a clear starter at this point. Friday's game should go a long way toward resoving that lineup issue.
Illinois State's defense looks to be a strength in 2009. The Redbirds have two defenders on the Missouri Valley preseason all-conference team in Shannon Eccleston and Danielle Mutters, both seniors. Despite their presence, the Redbirds did allow an early goal to lowly IUPUI in their last exhibition game with the starters on the field. However, that was one of only two shots on goal that the Redbirds conceded on Sunday.
Janet Rayfield's track record shows that she can coach defense. Last season, there were also some unanswered questions on the back line heading into the season, and the Illini ended up allowing just 19 goals on the season. Later in the season, this would likely be an Illinois advantage, but right now...
Advantage: even
Goalkeeping: Last season, Alex Kapicka was the only option in goal for the Illini. Of course, she was a pretty good option, recording nine shutouts and a 0.80 goals against average that ranked as second best in school history. Kapicka should be the starter again this season, but the Illini are prepared if she goes down with injury, as they welcome freshmen Steph Panozzo and Katelyn Hoffman between the posts. Hoffman appears to be a likely redshirt candidate, but Panozzo saw action in the Illinois exhibition win against Cincinnati and came up with three big saves to help preserve the shutout.
The keeper spot at ISU looks to once again be a timeshare between senior Katie Grill-Donovan and sophomore Sasha Reiber. Grill-Donovan has started both exhibition games, but has also allowed both goals that the Redbirds gave up in those exhibitions. Reiber has put up two scoreless halves in the exhibition season, but has not been challenged between the posts, as she has yet to make a save.
Between Kapicka's experience last season and Panozzo's talent (she was on the Canadian National U-20 team), this looks to be an Illini advantage.
Advantage: Illinois
Overall: The Redbirds will be highly motivated in taking on their larger rival. The Illini must be careful not to allow an early goal, which could give ISU enough momentum to pull the upset. However, with Sahly and Read continuing to get more comfortable together playing up front, this could be an explosive Illini offense in the making. Add that to the Illini edge in goal, and it all adds up to...
Final Score: Illinois 3 Illinois State 1
I hope everyone can tune into our radio broadcast tomorrow night. Kristy Weeks will join me on the air, and Mike Kobylinski from the Little Illini Soccer Club will be my halftime guest. Also, just to review, it looks like our radio schedule has been finalized. We will broadcast:
Friday 8/21 vs Illinois State
Friday 9/4 vs UCLA (tape delayed after Cardinals baseball)
Sunday 10/11 vs Wisconsin
Thursday 10/22 vs Ohio State
Sunday 11/1 vs Michigan
Thanks for reading.
bmoline@wdws.com
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