Hoosiers Draw With Illinois, 0-0

Friday, September 18

Bloomington, IN

7:00 PM

Indiana University

3-3-3

Illinois

6-1-1

OT 3

OT 4

Illinois

Indiana

9/18/2015 11:24:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the second consecutive game, the Indiana Women's Soccer ended Friday's match in an overtime draw, this time a 0-0 stalemate with Illinois in the Big Ten season opener.

Indiana (3-3-3, 0-0-1 Big Ten) goalkeeper Sarah Stone tied her season-high of seven saves for the third straight contest to give the Indiana defense a shutout.

"It's always nice to get a point in conference," said Stone. "We're playing in a great conference and that was a great team. Illinois has always been a tough team and I think they're even stronger this year."

Illinois (6-1-1, 0-0-1 Big Ten) came close to putting Indiana on the board in the sixth minute after a near-miss on an own-goal situation as Illini goalkeeper Claire Wheatley had to make a diving stop on a misplayed header.

The first shot of the game didn't come until the 10^th minute of action as Illinois' Kara Marbury sent one high. Indiana freshman Hanna Johnson answered quickly as she returned a shot of her own a minute later, but that effort went wide.

Illinois' Janelle Flaws led the Fighting Illini in shots as she put up six, including a hard-hit shot from long range that just sailed high off the crossbar in the 25^th minute.

Both team's strong backlines prevented a single shot on goal until the 37^th minute when Stone picked up her first save on a Allison Stucky attempt. Two minutes later, Indiana's Lauren Joray knocked in a shot-on-target, but Illinois Wheatley picked up the ball to keep the game scoreless.

Four of Stone's saves came in the second half of action, starting with a point-blank stop in the 50^th minute off the foot of Flaws.

The Hoosiers did garner five corner opportunities in the match, including back-to-back chances in the 60^th minute, but a shot by Johnson was blocked to end the threat.

Illinois got off a flurry of shots in the final minutes of regulation, resulting in a pair of Stone saves. The Illini's best late opportunity came on a shot by Flaws that was fired through a crowded box and stopped by Stone.

After being out-shot in the first two halves, Indiana responded with an aggressive first overtime period that saw them hold a 3-2 advantage in the 10-minute period with shots by Kylie Kirk, Maya Piper and Kayla Smith.

"I thought we were pretty dangerous up top," said Indiana head coach Amy Berbary. "We're one pass away, one step away, we're just missing it, missing that little detail in the final third. But I'm pretty happy with the overall team effort."

Smith started out the final OT period with a quick attempt on an on-target look that was saved by Wheatley. It looked like the Hoosiers might break the stalemate in the 105^th minute as Kayla Smith sent the ball into the box to Johnson, who nearly beat out Wheatley as she was running in to the make the stop.

"When you come out of an overtime in a tie, that means you fought," said Emily Basten. "You fought until the end and that's something to always be proud of."

The Hoosiers return to action on Sunday at Noon as they host Northwestern (7-1-1) at Armstrong Stadium. The game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network.