CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team suffered an 8-0 setback at Illinois on Sunday afternoon at the Illinois Soccer Stadium. Sophomore Megan Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and freshman Julia Lentz (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) combined to make 15 saves in the contest. 

"Today's match showed that we aren't where I want our team to be in terms of mental toughness," said NIU head coach Julie Colhoff. "We didn't have a good training session yesterday and that showed in our game today. What we need to do now is pick ourselves up this week and make sure that we have consistently good days of practice leading into next weekend."

Illinois opened the scoring in the 21st minute as Katie Murray played a through ball from midfield to Kelly Maday who was in alone on Donnally. Maday was able to touch the ball around the NIU goalkeeper and finish to give Illinois a 1-0 lead. 

The Fighting Illini doubled their advantage in the 29th minute. A cross in from the right was touched on from Peyton Willie to Ashley Cathro, she played the final ball to Murray who volleyed a shot into the back of the net. 

Illinois added a third in the 39th as Madi Wolfbauer slotted home a shot from near the top of the box, assisted by Murray, as the Fighting Illini took a 3-0 lead into halftime. 

Six minutes after the intermission, Illinois scored its first goal of the second half as Hope Breslin played a pass from midfield in behind the Huskie defense toward Caroline Ratz who finished in one touch. Breslin added a fifth goal for Illinois on a penalty kick in the 54th minute. 

Illinois scored three more goals in the final half-hour as Willie, Murray and Makena Silber all added goals for the Fighting Illini. 

Donnally made 10 saves in the contest while Lentz, who saw her first collegiate action coming on as a substitute, made five stops. 

The Huskies will be back on the road next weekend as they travel west to face New Mexico State and UTEP. NIU will visit Las Cruces, N.M., on Friday, Aug. 31, and UTEP in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 2.