Posted Friday, April 21, 2006, The OG, sports

Senior Emma Marshak and sophomore Suran Yoo scored two goals apiece in the second half as Uni defeated host Decatur Christian 4-1 in varsity action on Thursday.

The win raises the Illlineks' record to 2-9 overall and 2-2 in the East Central Illinois Conference.

Although Decatur Christian went into halftime ahead 1-0, Uni had controlled the tempo, launching 13 shots on goal compared to three for the Warriors.

That aggressiveness continued in the second half as Uni outshot its host 10-3. The payoff arrived when Marshak scored Uni's first goal of the game with an assist from Yoo. Marshak's second goal, the game winner, was unassisted.

Yoo added two insurance goals, one with help from Marshak and the other with an assist by junior Emily Rosengren.

“Our level of play improved immensely today,” said senior co-captain Roveiza Irfan. “The goal that Decatur Christian scored was a result of a problem we've had all season: lack of speed in the midfield. An outside midfielder lost her mark, a defender had to move out of position to guard the unmarked person, and there was a subsequent defensive breakdown.”

But the Illineks were able to regroup from that initial mistake.

“The goal was a wake-up call for us,” Irfan said, “and we soon found our rhythm and were shooting almost five times more than they were. The fact that none of our shots went in during the first half was unfortunate; a lot of our offensive players were rushing themselves when they had a breakaway and would shoot straight to the goalie, instead of taking the time to put up a nice angled shot.”

In the second half, the Illineks calmed down and became more organized in their attacks.

“Our passes were connecting well and our center mids, Shara [Esbenshade] and Zoë [Schein], kept control of the center and established our pace,” Irfan said. “Almost every shot was set up by good ball-handling in the middle of the field. Suran and Emma were also able to read each other's positions well and had a lot of nice give-and-go's, which is reflected in the stats with the goals they scored and the assists they gave.”

Goalie Mandy Grill finished the day with five saves, one of the few times this season she didn't face double-digit shots on goal.

“Mandy had a quiet game since, after the first goal, the defense was able to get the ball out of defensive third quickly,” Irfan said. “Eleanor Unsworth and Sarah Pfander put up huge performances in the outside defense positions.”

The girls host Monticello today at 4:30 p.m. in a game that was rescheduled from April 6 because of bad weather. The game will be played at the U of I Division of Campus Recreation Complex at Florida and Lincoln avenues, Urbana.

Visit the team's home page for a complete schedule of 2006 games.

— Gargoyle