CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini soccer closed out the 2023 season with a 4-2 defeat to No. 25 Nebraska on Sunday at Demirjian Park.
The Orange and Blue finish the campaign 6-8-3 overall and 2-6-2 in Big Ten play. The Illini also went 4-3-0 on the home pitch.
After absorbing some early pressure from the Huskers, Illinois created two great chances on the counterattack in quick succession, nearly finding the opener. Sydney Stephens would pick out an unmarked Makala Woods in the seventh minute, but the senior could only push her shot wide. Woods had another chance to put the Illini ahead in the 14th minute when she was found in space by Sarah Foley, but her shot was tipped over the bar by the Nebraska keeper.
Julia Cili made an excellent diving save in the 19th minute from a chance off a Huskers corner, but the visitors would open the scoring on a second-consecutive corner kick, a header that was nearly kept out by Lia Howard.
Illinois came close to equalizing soon after, on of a set piece of its own in the 23rd minute, but Howard’s headed effort on the doorstep of the goal was saved.
Nebraska would double its advantage in the 29th minute and then scored two more times in the 34th and 41st minutes and took the 4-0 lead into the break.
The Illini grabbed one of those goals back in the 51st minute, when Joanna Verzosa-Dolezal played through Woods on goal with a great ball from midfield, and the Monroe, Ohio, native, rounded the keeper and fired the ball into the empty net for her third goal of the season.
The Illinois defense kept the Huskers quiet in the second half, allowing just one shot, which was not on target, during the final 45 minutes of the contest.
After putting pressure on the Nebraska goal throughout the half, the Illini were able to score their second goal of the contest in the 89th minute, with Kennedy Berschel and Stephens linking up to play Howard in on goal, and the sophomore lifted her shot over the on-rushing keeper and into the net for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.
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