Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois (Big Ten Tournament)
Wildcats Blanked by No. 18 Illinois, 5-0
11/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 4, 2004
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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Northwestern's women's soccer team saw its Big Ten Tournament run come to an abrupt halt Thursday afternoon, as the fifth-seeded Wildcats fell to fourth-seeded Illinois 5-0 at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Illinois (13-4-2) moves on to a meeting with No. 3 and top seed Penn State Friday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal round. Northwestern (10-8-2) likely had its season come to a close with the loss; NCAA Tournament bids will be handed out Monday, but the 'Cats are a definite bubble team as the weekend begins and conference tournaments start up.
The Fighting Illini had the first great opportunity of the match in the 15th minute, when Tara Hurless was able to get behind the NU defense. However, her shot from 18 yards out was pushed wide by second-team All-Big Ten goalkeeper Whitney Jones.
Jones was not as fortunate five minutes later, when Hurless fed a ball to Natasha Karniski along the right side. Karniski was open in the goal box, and fired a 15-yard shot high over a diving Jones and into the far side netting for the 1-0 lead.
Jones kept the score at 1-0 with about 15 minutes left in the first when she fell back and snared a 20-yard shot that was ticketed for the upper part of the goal.
NU was victim of an unfortunate circumstance with just under six minutes left in the half when a corner kick by Christen Karniski bounced off of Jones' hands and into the goal for a 2-0 Illini lead.
Northwestern had a nice opportunity just five minutes into the second half when Tabitha Lowey sent a cross from the right side that Illinois goalkeeper Leisha Alcia was forced to tip off the crossbar before corraling. Five minutes later, Lowey again tested Alcia with a left-footed shot from 15 yards and beat her, but the shot rang off the crossbar and bounced harmlessly away.
Hurless -- who earned first-team All-Big Ten honors again this season -- put the match out of reach in a matter of seconds during the 65th minute. She set up Illinois' third goal with 25:55 left with a nice run from the right side that set up Paula Faherty for an easy goal, then fired a rocket that Jones could not handle just 31 seconds later to make the score 4-0.
Stephanie Krutsch nearly got one back on a free kick three minutes later, but her ball skipped off the top of the crossbar and out of bounds.
Brittany Ward closed out the Illini scoring with 13:53 left, finishing off a nice sequence of passing from in front. Soon afterward, NU's Shannon Schneeman rang another free kick off the crossbar -- the fourth time the 'Cats hit the bar during the half.
NU's Shannon Schneeman was named to the All-Tournament team on Sunday.
MATCH SUMMARY
Score by Half
#5 Northwestern (10-8-2) 0 0 - 0
#4 Illinois (13-4-2) 2 3 - 5
Goal Summary
ILL - Natasha Karniski (Tara Hurless), 20:09
ILL - Christen Karniski (unassisted), 39:06
ILL - Paula Faherty (Hurless), 64:05
ILL - Hurless (unassisted), 64:36
ILL - Brittany Ward (Ella Masar, Faherty), 76:07
Shots: Illinois 21, NU 10
Corner Kicks: Illinois 7, NU 1
Fouls: NU 10, Illinois 9
GK Saves: NU - Whitney Jones 5; ILL - Leisha Alcia 4, Lindsay Carstens 0
