Defense travels. Regardless of location, weather or time of day, it’s something teams can carry with them.
This season, Indiana women’s soccer has proven that to be true. Entering its first conference contest, the Hoosiers had allowed just six goals in their opening six matches.
The Hoosiers’ tough, physical defense that has been present all season was out in full force in the 0-0 draw with Illinois on Friday at Demirjian Park in Champaign, Illinois.
The first 45 minutes of the match were physical, and neither team could find almost any offensive rhythm. Opportunities to score were few and far between for the two squads in the first half, with only a total of six shots — two from Indiana and four from Illinois.
The second half was when the offensive chances began to ramp up for both teams. Senior forward Marisa Grzesiak had a pair of opportunities for the Hoosiers on breakaways but couldn’t convert either chance. Grzesiak recorded four of Indiana’s six shots.
The Illini attempted to push the pace to close the match as well, with numerous opportunities that resulted in deflections, turnovers and saves. Graduate student goalkeeper Sally Rainey tallied two saves in the final five minutes to help keep Illinois off the scoreboard throughout the night.
The goalkeeper combination of Rainey and senior Dani Jacobson picked up its third clean sheet of the season and kept Illinois — which averaged 2.14 goals per game ahead of the contest — scoreless for the first time this year.
The hard-earned draw may be a result Indiana looks back on and feels proud to come away with. Illinois entered the match with a 7-0 record, notching wins over schools like the University of Kentucky and Boston College, and leading the conference in goal differential.
Indiana was called for seven fouls in comparison to the one called on Illinois. The Illini had nine corner kicks throughout the contest, and the Hoosiers were limited to just four.
Almost every statistical category that could be recorded Friday favored Illinois and pointed to a runaway victory. However, the Indiana defensive goal this year has been to bend but not break, and they did not break once.
Like in games past, the offense couldn’t pick up a go-ahead goal to help the defense out. In each of Indiana’s losses this year, the difference has been one goal.
That marginal difference in defeats provides some hope for the remainder of the Big Ten slate. Being within a goal puts more emphasis on capitalizing on chances on offense, with those goals potentially equating to more success.
Indiana will now continue its road trip to face Maryland. The Terrapins were picked last in the Big Ten preseason poll, while Indiana was picked 17th. Maryland will enter the match with a 4-4 record and winless in the conference after falling 4-0 to No. 8 Penn State on Thursday.
Indiana will head into the contest after drawing in two of its last three matches and winning the other.
The Hoosiers' game with Maryland is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Thursday at Ludwig Field in College Park, Maryland. The game will be streamed on Big Ten+.
Follow reporters Noah Gerkey (@Noah_Gerk and ngerkey@iu.edu) and Will Kwiatkowski (@WKwiatkowski_15 and wdkwiatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women's soccer season.
