MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Illinois State women's soccer team was topped by Milwaukee, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium as redshirt junior Priya Gillan posted a career-high nine saves, the most by a Redbird keeper since 10/17/2018 (Haley Smith made nine vs Indiana State).
Senior Logan Ziegler and junior Allison Baker each recorded three shots while sophomore Arianna Lombardi and freshman Sydney Smith each had two shots. Smith made her first collegiate start, playing 78 minutes for ISU (1-5 overall).
The Panthers (5-0 overall), which have now outscored their opponents by a 23-0 margin, struck first on an 8th-minute goal before adding a goal in the 41st minute to lead 2-0 at the half.
MKE outshot ISU by a 20-10 margin and held a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Redbirds have been shutout in three-straight matches for the first time since 2018 and ISU's five-match losing streak is the longest for the program since 2008.
Illinois State is scheduled to face Northwestern at Adelaide Street Field on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. CT.
QUOTE FROM FIFTH-YEAR HEAD COACH BRAD SILVEY
"We still have work to do. We challenged this group to remain consistent over this tough stretch of games, but unfortunately, we stumbled a bit today. Lots of personnel and position changes have disrupted continuity, but we still need to find a way to execute and compete at a high level. This is a resilient group of student-athletes, and they know they still have everything to play for. We need to regroup, recover, and refocus for our final weekend of non-conference games."
On Gillan: "Priya has unfortunately been under a lot of pressure recently, but she has managed it extremely well. As a team, we need to do a better job managing the space immediately in front of our goal and alleviating the number of times we are calling on her--to her credit, she has responded positively on a number of those occasions. No doubt, she has played a key role in keeping our team in games. Additionally, we need to take pressure off her by scoring goals in our favor."
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