1st Big Ten win comes vs. No. 25 Illinois for women's soccer team

It took four scrappy, heartbreaking weekends, but the IU women’s soccer team was finally able to pick up important Big Ten Conference points.

Coming into the weekend 0-6 in conference play, the Hoosiers had received zero points. After this weekend’s play, the Hoosiers (6-10-1, 1-6-1) now have four points after tying conference leader Purdue on Friday night 1-1 and getting their first conference win Sunday afternoon, defeating No 25. Illinois 1-0.

“We told them destiny is in their own hands, and they need to start getting points and winning games,” IU coach Mick Lyon said. “There are no passionate rah-rah speeches from the coaches. It’s turned over to them.”

In Friday’s matchup against in-state rival Purdue, both teams played the first 45 minutes without scoring. In the second half, however, the Boilermakers found their breakthrough at just 4:02 into the game.

Kellie Phillips scored off a rebound shot by teammate Loredana Riverso.

The score stood pat until just under four minutes left, when the Hoosiers were finally able to get their equalizer. Sophomore forward Jocelyn Moses provided the goal for the Hoosiers.

“In the first half, Jocelyn had a couple of chances where she shot from the top of the box,” Lyon said. “At halftime, we talked about it and told her, ‘You’re not going to score like that, you’ve got to take right at the goalkeeper get that touch, make the goalkeeper move and you’ll score on a toe ball,’ and she did exactly that, so credit to her for listening, learning and becoming better.”

In the first overtime period, the Hoosiers kept the aggressive tempo up, as they outshot their rivals to the north 3-0.

Junior forward Kristin Arnold’s header went just wide of goal, and she also had an opportunity in the 99th minute, as a pass from freshman forward Carly Samp went just off target.

The second overtime period saw Purdue outshoot the Hoosiers 5-1, although freshman goalkeeper Lindsey Campbell only had to make one save in that period. Campbell finished with eight saves.

Sunday’s game against Illinois also featured a scoreless first half. In fact, the game went scoreless until the 83rd minute, when Samp, who missed last weekend’s games due to injury, scored her second goal of the season off an assist from sophomore midfielder Chloe McKay. The assist was McKay’s 10th of her IU career, which puts her in the top 10 all-time on the Hoosiers career assist list.

It was the only goal the Hoosiers would need to notch their first conference win.

“We had been working on through balls,” Samp said. “Chloe did exactly what we had been working on. She told me to go, I went, and she hooked it, and I finished it far post.”

The Hoosiers had never led at any time in conference play before Sunday, so when Samp scored with less than eight minutes to play, one of the most excited Hoosiers on the field was goalkeeper Campbell, who before Friday’s tie against Purdue hadn’t won since Loyola (Chicago) on Sept. 21.

“Oh my god, I jumped in the air,” Campbell said. “It was a great feeling. We’ve been looking for that all season, and it just finally happened.”