Cowgirl Soccer Suffers First Loss

Friday, August 31

Urbana-Champaign, IL

7:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

3-1-0

Illinois

3-2-0

Oklahoma State

Illinois

Julia Lenhardt

August 31, 2018 | Cowgirl Soccer

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A pair of second-half goals doomed Oklahoma State Friday night as Illinois handed the 11^th-ranked Cowgirls a 2-1 loss at Illinois Soccer Stadium.

The loss was the first of the season for the Cowgirls, who fell to 3-1-0, while Illinois improved to 3-2-0.

Julia Lenhardt scored the lone OSU goal, her first of the season, as the Cowgirls outshot the Fighting Illini by a 15-14 count. Illinois owned a 12-5 advantage on corner kicks.

Illinois was the aggressor early in the match, but Hannah Warner kept the home team off the scoreboard with a pair of saves in the third minute, stopping a shot by Makena Silber before diving to knock away a header by Hope Breslin just 30 seconds later.

OSU had a flurry of scoring chances during a 63-second span in the opening half in which the Cowgirls recorded three shots and a pair of corner kicks. The closest of those opportunities to finding the back of the net came on a Marlo Zoller blast from the top of the box that a leaping Illini goalie Jaelyn Cunningham snatched out of the air.

The Cowgirls would take a lead into the break when Lenhardt scored with one second remaining on the clock. With time winding down, Kim Rodriguez delivered a long ball into the box that connected with a hustling Lenhardt, who flicked it in for a 1-0 OSU lead.

The OSU advantage did not hold up, however. In the 66^th minute, Breslin recorded her second goal of the season as she delivered a header from six-yards out past Cowgirl keeper Dani Greenlee.

Greenlee would make a big-time save less than three minutes later to keep the score tied at 1-1 as she dived to her right and knocked a shot by Katie Le out of harm's way.

But in the 86^th minute, Illinois would get the game winner as Arianna Veland collected a loose ball and buried a 12-yard shot top shelf to the far post.

Scrambling for the equalizer late, OSU tallied a pair of free kicks deep in Illinois territory with under two minutes remaining. However, the first opportunity was knocked away by the Illini defense before the second resulted in Rodriguez blasting a shot from 25-yards out with 45 seconds remaining that was saved by a diving Cunningham.

OSU concludes its road trip Sunday at Loyola Chicago is a match scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff.