NORMAL, Ill. - Despite outshooting its opponents, the Illinois State soccer team fell to Purdue 2-0 at Adelaide Street Field on Friday afternoon. Both goals came before the halftime whistle for the Boilers and the defense held in the second half, surviving several golden opportunities from ISU. For the Redbirds, they end the exhibition season with an 0-2 record and were outscored 6-0.
Even though the match ended in a loss, there was much to be pleased about for the Redbirds. Whereas Monday the offense struggled to find shots, the unit had no issues doing so Friday. On a beautiful day at Adelaide Street Field, ISU fired 19 shots compared to Purdue's 18 and outshot the Boilers 11-9 in the second half. Rachel Tejada led the team with four shots. Two of those were on goal. Hannah Rodgers came on as a reserve and fired three shots, all on goal.
In the net, redshirt senior Aryn Newsom played the full 90 minutes. She made five saves, including multiple beauties that required her to dive into traffic to deflect the oncoming ball. However, Purdue netted two goals just eight minutes apart from each other.
ISU's focus now shifts to the regular season, which they will open up next Friday at home against Northern Illinois. The Redbirds are 9-3-1 against the Huskies in the all-time series and have not lost in the last 10 meetings.
Kickoff Friday is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Redbird HD.tv.
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