No. 10 Maize and Blue Shuts Down Illinois for Sixth Straight Win

Friday, October 25

Champaign, Ill.

7:00 PM CT

Michigan

13-2-1, 7-1-1B1G

Illinois

8-7-2, 3-5-1B1G

Michigan

Illinois

No. 10 Maize and Blue Shuts Down Illinois for Sixth Straight Win

10/25/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Brad Rudner

Site: Champaign, Ill. (Illinois Soccer & Track Stadium)
Score: #10 Michigan 2, Illinois 0
Records: U-M (13-2-1, 7-1-1 Big Ten), Illinois (8-7-2, 3-5-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Oct. 27 -- at Northwestern (Evanston, Ill.), 1 p.m. CDT

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Freshman Madisson Lewis (Canton, Mich./Plymouth) and fifth-year senior Holly Hein (Castaic, Calif./West Ranch) scored first-half goals, and freshman Taylor Bucklin (Greenwich, Conn./Brookfield) made seven saves for her seventh shutout of the season as the No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's soccer team downed Illinois, 2-0, on a chilly and windy Friday night (Oct. 25) at the Illinois Soccer & Track Stadium. It is also the Wolverines' fifth straight road victory -- all against Big Ten teams -- which is a new program record.

Madisson Lewis

With the win, Michigan kept pace with Nebraska in the Big Ten race. The Cornhuskers defeated Ohio State, 1-0, earlier in the day to remain in first with 24 points (8-1-0). Michigan held serve with the victory over Illinois to stay in second with 22 points (7-1-1). Third-place Penn State lost to Iowa, 3-2, to stay at 18 points (6-3-0) and plays at Nebraska on Sunday (Oct. 27).

Illinois fired four shots in the first 10 minutes of play, including two on frame by the nation's leading goal-scorer, Janelle Flaws. Michigan nearly got on the board in the 22nd minute, when junior Chloe Sosenko (South Lyon, Mich./Brighton) placed a free kick into the box from 25 yards out that skidded just wide of the net.

Two minutes later, Michigan broke the tie on Lewis' fifth goal of the season. Running up the sideline, Lewis received a through ball from senior Nkem Ezurike (Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia/Sackville) and used her speed to slip by a defender. Lewis then went one on one with Illinois goalkeeper Claire Wheatley and grounded a shot inside the left post to put Michigan up 1-0.

Twelve minutes later, the Wolverines struck again on a goal from Hein. A foul was called against Illinois, and senior Shelina Zadorsky (London, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas) served the free kick into the box and found Hein, who rose above everyone to head the ball into the far post from the center of the penalty area to increase the lead to 2-0 heading into halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, Michigan repelled every Illinois chance, headlined by Bucklin stonewalling Flaws on a point-blank chance in the 80th minute. The Wolverines still had their chances, however. In the 62nd minute, Ezurike found some open space in the box but was swarmed by the Illinois defense, failing to get a touch on the ball with Wheatley on the other side of the goal.

The Wolverines close out the road trip on Sunday (Oct. 27), facing Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. The match will begin at 1 p.m. CDT.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Michigan	2	0	2
Illinois	0	0	0

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Madisson Lewis, 23:05 (Nkem Ezurike)
1st -- U-M, Holly Hein, 35:20 (Shelina Zadorsky)

Shots: U-M 16, ILL 17
Shots on Goal: U-M 5, ILL 7
Saves: U-M 7 (Taylor Bucklin), ILL 3 (Claire Wheatley)
Corner Kicks: U-M 3 ILL 1
Cards: None

NOTES

• U-M improves to 12-8-1 all-time vs. Illinois. It was the team's first win over the Fighting Illini since 2010. The Wolverines are also 4-4-1 all-time against Illinois in Champaign.

• The win is Michigan's 13th of the season, tied for fifth most in a single season in program history. Since the start of the 2012 season, Michigan has won 29 matches, the most combined wins in a two-season stretch since 2001-02 (also 29).

• It is Michigan's sixth straight victory, all of which have come against Big Ten teams. U-M has not won that many consecutive matches in Big Ten play since 1999 (seven). The program record for consecutive wins is seven, set Sept. 7-28, 1997. A win on Sunday vs. Northwestern would tie the record.

• Since the winning streak began on Oct. 3 at Michigan State, Michigan has outscored its opponents, 11-3, and has recorded three shutouts during that stretch.

• U-M has won seven Big Ten matches for the second consecutive year, a feat that has not happened since the 2001 (eight) and 2002 (seven) seasons.

• With her assist on Friday, Nkem Ezurike has 108 career points. She needs nine points to become the school's career leader in that category. Abby Crumpton (1999-02) is program record-holder with 116 points.

• U-M is 11-0-0 when scoring the match's first goal. Additionally, the Wolverines have scored more than one goal in 11 of their 13 wins.

• Madisson Lewis scored her first goal since Oct. 6 at Nebraska. It is her fifth goal of the season.

• Holly Hein scored her second goal of the season on Friday. Her other strike came on Sept. 6 vs. Pepperdine.

• Shelina Zadorsky recorded her seventh assist of the season, improving on her career high. She is now tied for eighth all-time for most assists in a single season. Nkem Ezurike's assist is her eighth of the season, tying her with Melissa Dobbyn (2005) and Abby Crumpton (1999) for sixth on that same list.

• Sydney Raguse earned her third start of the season on Friday. It is her first action since starting Sept. 22 at Iowa. She played 19 minutes on Friday.

• Shelby Chambers-Garcia played her first match since Oct. 3 at Michigan State. She missed the last four matches due to illness.

• Illinois forward Janelle Flaws came into the contest tied for first in the nation in goals (18). The Michigan defense kept her off the board, though Flaws had seven shots (five shots on goal).

• Michigan will be back at the Illinois Soccer & Track Stadium in less than two weeks for the Big Ten Tournament, which begins Wednesday, Nov. 6, with the quarterfinals. The top eight teams advance to the postseason tournament.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Greg Ryan
On the match ... "I thought we played great. We had a few huge mistakes in the first 15 minutes that could have put them up, kind of like at Penn State. We had to make some substitutions to correct that. On the offensive side, just two fantastic goals. Holly's (Hein) header goal was one of the best I've ever seen. It was a long free kick; Holly rises above everyone and just plants one at the far post. The goalkeeper might have gotten a hand on it, but it makes it that much more amazing."

On limiting Illinois forward Janelle Flaws, who came into the contest tied for first in the nation in goals ... "She had a few chances and should have finished a couple early when we just gave the ball to her. We kept her in front of us and didn't let her get in behind us, save for those few chances early in the match. Holly and Shelina (Zadorsky) did a great job controlling the back line, dropping it down low and not allowing her to get any space in behind. Taylor (Bucklin) did a great job reading the defense and made some big saves. We've done a great job all year long of shutting down the opposing team's scoring players, and that's a credit to our whole team, but really a huge credit to the back line and to Taylor."

On halftime adjustments ... "At 2-0 at halftime, we went into a very defensive formation. We still got some chances, but we didn't want to let them put anything on the board. To me, this was a professional win. It's rare to see college teams exhibit that level of organization and discipline, but this team has done it all year long. With a two-goal lead, we knew we didn't need another one as long as we could keep them from scoring. We didn't need a third. We just needed to shut them down."

On the team's counter-attack ... "That's the story right now. It's how well this team defends and how quickly we can counter. That first goal came out of nowhere. They're coming at us, we win the ball, get it to Nkem Ezurike, and she slips a perfect ball to Madi Lewis. Up 1-0. It was more their game than ours at that point, but this team just defends in a way to keep others from scoring."

On what his message to the team was for Sunday's match at Northwestern ... "We talked about focus. We may have overlooked Northwestern in the past and taken them for granted, and it's come back to haunt us. This is a team that wants to do something special. We won't take them for granted. This team is going to give them the best game we have in us and stay in our mantra of 'one game at a time.' We respect Northwestern. Most of their games are very tight. They are a competitive bunch, and we know they will be hungry to beat us. The focus of our team will be there. The determination and will is going to be there. Even in stretches where we've played poorly this year, we've been persistent and relentless with our effort. We will bring that. We'll be excited to play."