COLUMBIA, Mo. – Fighting Illini sophomore Patricia George netted her first career goal on Friday, in a 3-2 overtime loss at Missouri. Illinois falls to 2-1-0 overall, after its first overtime game of the season. 

 

"I liked the grit we showed tonight," head coach Janet Rayfield said. "Missouri plays an end-to-end game and it was 100 miles per hour. I thought when we could slow the game down, that we did some good things, we just didn't do it enough. We fought back to tie the game, which I thought was great, but you have to put the game away."

 

George put the Illini up 1-0 in the 15^th minute of play, taking advantage of a breakaway near midfield and beating the Missouri defender before placing the ball just out of reach of the Tiger goalkeeper.  The Illini defense went to work to hold on to the lead. Senior Hope D'Addario made a major play for the Orange and Blue, knocking a Missouri shot out of the goal just before it crossed the line.

 

Missouri put away the equalizer, however, scoring off of a corner kick in the 40^th minute of the game. The Illini headed into the halftime break with a tie game for the first time this season.

 

The Tigers took the lead in the game in the 78^th minute, but junior Kara Marbury netted her first goal of the season to lock up the score, 2-2. A long pass into the box from D'Addario was tipped by George to Marbury, who fired it straight into the back of the net. The assist marks the third for D'Addario this season and the first for George in her career.  

 

Illinois allowed just two shots from the Tigers before the end of regulation. Illinois had fired seven shots, putting two of them on frame prior to the overtime period.

 

Missouri took the final lead in the game, converting a penalty kick attempt in the 96^th minute of play. The Tigers improve to 2-1-0 on the season.  

 

"I think the biggest thing right now is that we have to recover," Rayfield said of preparing for Sunday's match. "This was a contest that went up-and-down. I think it will be a bit of a different style game on Sunday. We have to get back after it, we still have to get better. There were some little details tonight that we needed to take care of and, hopefully, on Sunday we will do that. These are the games you have to bounce back from if you're going to be there at the end of the season. It's still early, this was a great test for us. We're going to learn from it and take that into Sunday's game."

 

Illinois continues its road slate this weekend, facing Saint Louis at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28. The game will be live streamed, and live scoring will be available. Stay tuned to FIGHTINGILLINI.com for all the latest on Illinois soccer.