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Moline's Musings

Soccer Dominates Redbirds

Posted by: Brian Moline

Saturday, August 22, 2009 11:04 AM

Sorry for the delay on this post. You may have already heard that the Illini took care of Illinois State last night 4-0. Four different Illini tallied goals, including two players who scored their first career goals as Illini, junior Krystin Miller and freshman Niki Read. Also coming up with goals were sophomore midfielder Marissa Mykines, who got the Illini on the board with a blast from nearly 30 yards out less than three minutes into the match, and junior forward Jordan Hilbrands, who made it a 2-0 game less than two minutes later.

The game was 3-0 at the half, despite the two teams being even in shots at five apiece. In the second half, the Illini continued to attack the Redbird defense, which boasts two preseason all-Missouri Valley players in seniors Shannon Eccleston and Danielle Mutters. The Illini peppered the Redbirds with 13 second half shots, five of which were on goal. Read scored the lone second half goal on a nifty play. She took a nice pass from senior Courtney Bell near the top of the box, then dribbled past keeper Sasha Reiber, who had come off her line in an attempt to cut off the pass. Read then found the empty net to give the Illini their final 4-0 margin.

Offensively, the Illini were more agressive than they were most of last season, when they struggled to score barely one goal per game. Both their outside backs and their outside midfielders got involved on the attack early and often. Sophomores Julie Ewing and Caitlyn Dombart got the start at outside back last night. Ewing in particular has the skills to be dangerous out of the back. She played both defense and forward last season in her freshman campaign. If anything, the Illini may have been a bit too agressive out of the back according to head coach Janet Rayfield, as they allowed a couple of dangerous counterattacks by the Redbirds that were turned away. But I think Rayfield would rather they have that attacking mindset, rather than being back on their heels.

Up top, the Illini got nice play from several players. Freshman Shayla Mutz didn't score, but drew the foul in the box that led to Miller's penalty kick. She made several nice runs throughout the evening. Senior Chichi Nweke didn't start after tweaking her left knee in practice, but showed how dangerous she can be even at less than full speed. She and junior Christina Sahly hooked up on several nice runs in the second half.

Defensively, the Illini were solid in their first test last night. Juniors Danielle Kot and Krystin Miller played all 90 minutes at center back, and that will likely be a common occurrance this season. Kot played every minute of every match last season, and Miller looked like she had been a defender her whole career, rather than just moving to the postion this spring from the midfield. Miller came up with a big save for the Illini early in the second half, as she moved behind keeper Alex Kapicka and headed away a shot by ISU's Kelly Rosenthal*. Kapicka was her usual solid self in goal, posting her tenth career shutout by making four saves.

*Random note for fans of the movie "Fargo." Rosenthal is a native of Brainerd, MN. Home of Babe the Blue Ox, doncha know.

Finally, in the midfield, Illinois was without all-Big Ten selection Jackie Santacaterina. Jackie should be back in a week or two after suffering a broken bone in her foot this summer. In her absence, junior Cory Steigerwald moved to the center midfield spot and did a nice job winning balls for the Illini. At this point, it looks like Steigerwald and Bell will be the starting outside midfielders once Santacaterina returns from injury. But sophomores Mykines, Jenna Carosio and Jackie Guerra will all be in the mix for playing time in the midfield as well. Mykines in particular was dangerous in the attack last night with that blast from 30 yards out.

The Illini will travel to Denver next weekend for matches against Colorado and the University of Denver. Both should be good non-conference tests for Rayfield's squad. Thanks for reading.

bmoline@wdws.com