The Illinois women's soccer team had a pair of dominating defensive efforts this weekend, upping their record to 4-2, winning both games of the Illinois Invitational over Evansville and Illinois State this weekend.

Tara Hurless scored the lone Illini goal against Evansville in a 1-0 shutout, putting the ball away by rebounding freshman Brittany Ward's miss off the post in the second half. In addition to Ward's assist, senior Meghan Kolze also assisted the goal.

"We had a lot of shots on goal," said Hurless of the offensive attack. The Illini had 31 shots, 12 on goal. "Brittany had a great shot. The freshmen stepped it up, came out and played hard."

Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield concurred.

"We had three freshmen front-runners in at the same time, doing well," Rayfield said. "What does that speak to the future of our program?"

One of the freshmen,Ward, played her most significant time to date. The Champaign native was in for 55 minutes in a game that wasn't decided until the final stretch, despite Illinois outshooting Evansville 31-0.

"We had a teammate out, so I had the opportunity to step up and I went all out," Ward said. "I'd been hesitating in the box, but I finally got the confidence to shoot it."

Another freshman, Jessica Bayne, provided the first goal of the day against ISU, scoring off assists from Meghan Kolze and Christen Karniski at 24:21.

"It was a great flick from Kolze," said Bayne. "I was there to put it away."

Hurless added an insurance goal — her team-leading fourth of the year — in the second on an assist from Bayne.

Rayfield feels good about her defense coming out of the weekend, but wants to see less wasted scoring opportunities.

"Coming out 2-0, we feel good," she said. "But for us to only score three goals is not the threatening offense we need to be in the Big Ten."

The Illini open their Big Ten schedule this weekend, taking on Michigan on Sept. 19 and Michigan State on Sept. 21, both at home.

"We've shown pieces of everything we need to compete in the Big Ten," Rayfield said. "Now we just need to put it all together."