Illini get back on the winning track, while Iowa suffers its first loss.

Friday's scores:

Illinois 4 Indiana 1.  Nice to see the Illini regain their scoring touch after a tough weekend in Columbus and State College.  Vanessa DiBernardo led the way with a pair of goals.  She how has eleven tallies for the season.  Megan Pawloski and Marissa Mykines each notched a goal as well.  Niki Read, Marissa Holden, Janelle Flaws and Julie Ewing each picked up an assist.  Illinois improves to 7-4-1 overall and gets their first Big Ten of the season to improve to 1-2-1 in league play.  Indiana falls to 5-6-1 overall, 1-3-0 in the Big Ten.

Michigan State 1 Nebraska 0.  In a matchup of potential All-American forwards, MSU's Laura Heyboer got the better of Nebraska's Morgan Marlborough, as the Spartans used a strong defensive effort to best the Huskers.  Nebraska outshot Michigan State 16-9, but Spartan goalkeeper Jill Fleitstra made six saves to preserve the shutout.

Michigan 1 Iowa 0.  The Wolverines handed the Hawkeyes their first loss of the season, using a Nkem Ezurike goal in the 53rd minute to earn the victory.  It's a big road win for Michigan, who gets back above .500 in the Big Ten at 2-1-1, while Iowa is now 1-1-2 in conference action.

Purdue 2 Northwestern 1.  The Boilermakers pick up their first conference win in Evanston, as they never trailed in this one.  Goals from Kellie Phillips and Alex Hairston were enough to hand the Wildcats their tenth loss in eleven games this season.  Purdue remains tied with Illinois, who they play on Sunday, in the league standings at 1-2-1.

Updated Standings

 

Big Ten

 

 

Overall

 

Team

Record

Pct.

Pts.

Record

Pct.

Michigan State

3-1-0

0.750

9

10-2-0

0.800

Penn State

3-1-0

0.750

9

10-3-0

0.727

Wisconsin

2-0-2

0.750

8

7-3-2

0.700

Ohio State

2-1-1

0.625

7

7-4-1

0.650

Michigan

2-1-1

0.625

7

7-3-2

0.650

Nebraska

2-2-0

0.500

6

5-5-1

0.611

Iowa

1-1-2

0.500

5

9-1-2

0.950

Minnesota 

1-1-2

0.500

5

4-6-2

0.450

Illinois

1-2-1

0.375

4

7-4-1

0.650

Purdue

1-2-1

0.375

4

4-7-2

0.318

Indiana

1-3-0

0.250

3

5-6-1

0.450

Northwestern

0-4-0

0.000

0

1-10-0

0.111

All twelve Big Ten teams are in action again on Sunday, including Illinois' game at home vs. Purdue, which gets started at 1pm.  You can hear the game live on News-Talk 1400 WDWS-AM in Champaign.  Tim Ditman will join me on the broadcast.

Thanks for reading.

bmoline@wdws.com