Illinois' five-game shutout streak ended last weekend, but they bring a seven-game unbeaten streak home this weekend.

The No. 25 Illini play at Illinois Soccer Stadium for the first time since Sept. 21, as they host No. 11 Ohio State and No. 14 Penn State this weekend.

"Everyone's touting this as an important weekend, but we feel like every weekend we've played to date is an important weekend," head coach Janet Rayfield said. "We're trying to be physically and mentally ready to play. Obviously these teams come in with a lot of recognition, so we're going to have to be on, especially defensively."

The offense has started to pick up, scoring five goals last weekend. Freshman Eva Strickland tied an Illini record by assisting on all three goals against Minnesota.

"It was a good team effort," Strickland said. "I finally broke out and got some points on the board."

Strickland wasn't the only freshman breaking out. Jessica Bayne and Brittany Ward also scored goals last weekend.

The Illini have scored seven goals in their last three games, after scoring seven goals in the previous six games.

They will be without one of their clutch performers this weekend. Senior forward Tiffani Walker, who has had two game-winning goals this year, is out with a left knee injury. Rayfield said even though the prognosis isn't as bad as originally thought, Walker is definitely out for the weekend.

Although the shutout streak came to an end at 475 minutes, goalie Leisha Alcia broke the school record for saves against Wisconsin, surpassing Amy Bassette's total of 211. The junior now has 214 for her career.

"Basically, it's because the team's been playing well. The saves that I make are usually routine saves," said Alcia, who already holds Illini records for shutouts, consecutive shutouts, and goals-against average.

The statistics support her modesty. She leads the Big Ten in shutouts with five but is only fifth in the conference in saves.

However, the end of the streak was a slight disappointment for the Illini.

"I would have said before Friday that the streak wasn't really what was important, we just wanted to continue to defend hard," said Rayfield. "When we got scored on, it did rattle us a little bit, but to win both games, on the road, that's important in the Big Ten,"

Illinois has taken care of business on the road, a major goal this year. With a pair of wins at home against top-15 teams, the first-place Illini will take a major step toward a bigger goal: a Big Ten title.