URBANA — As the 10-4-3 Illineks head into today's Class 1A Monticello regional semifinal against Decatur St. Teresa, they do so after going 1-1-1 in their final three regular-season games.

A win, a tie, and a loss might not sound very inspiring, but a closer look reveals several reasons for the Illineks, seeded No. 1 in their regional, to be confident.

Junior Elizabeth Russell (9) in action Thursday night against Mahomet-Seymour. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

Sophomore Emma Coverdill (11) controls the ball in Uni's tie with the Class 2A Bulldogs. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

May 5: Beating Danville 2-0

Their victory came May 5 over Class 2A Danville, a team that defeated Uni 6-0 in 2007, the last time the schools played at the Lady Vikings' home field. A year ago, Uni hosted Danville and lost 3-1.

This time, the visiting Illineks controlled the game and won 2-0. Junior midfielder Michelle Wong began the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 19th minute. She intercepted a pass deep inside Danville territory and beat three defenders for the score, her 11th goal of the season.

Uni's other score came just five minutes later when junior Elizabeth Allen set up classmate Elizabeth Russell with a well-placed crossing pass, which Russell converted into her fourth goal of the year.

The Illineks outshot Danville 12-3, and sophomore keeper Eunjung Kim recorded the team's ninth shutout victory of 2009.

May 7: Losing to Warrensburg-Latham 2-1

Two days after the Danville win, the Illineks were on the road again. Now 10-3-2, they traveled to undefeated Warrensburg-Latham, owner of an imposing 15-0-1 record.

Senior defensive back Annie Machesky stunned the Cardinals with a score in the 12th minute. Russell, Uni's right midfielder, applied strong pressure in the Warrensburg-Latham penalty area, resulting in a deflect pass to Machesky.

"Annie's shot from 30 yards out gave the defending keeper little chance for a save," head coach Philip Anders said.

The Cardinals got back on track in the 24th minute when a deflection off a corner kick got past freshman keeper Jamie Blue.

However, by then the Cardinals realized they were in a tough game. For the next 39 minutes, the teams remained deadlocked. It wasn't until the 63rd minute that Warrensburg-Latham went ahead, scoring on a counterattack cross that was not cleared from in front of Uni's goal.

The 2-1 road defeat represented Uni's first loss to a fellow Class 1A team. But considering the Cardinals' status as the No. 2 seed in the tough Williamsville regional and their undefeated record, the Illineks came out of the game knowing they stack up well against 1A competition.

May 14: Tying Mahomet-Seymour 1-1

A week later, in their final tuneup before the Class 1A playoffs, the Illineks tied Class 2A Mahomet-Seymour on the road.

Although the game ended in a 1-1 draw, it seemed more like a victory to the Illineks. The Bulldogs, featured that same day in a glowing News-Gazette article, had defeated Champaign Central and Centennial, two big-school opponents Uni had lost to early in the season.

The Illineks didn’t score in the first half, but Blue made four of her season-high 10 saves in the half, keeping Uni close.

The Bulldogs scored their first goal of the evening in the 56th minute, when the ball was poked into the Uni net by an attacker from a crowd around the goal.

The Illineks retaliated five minutes later to even the score on junior center-mid Erika Belmont's team-high 15th goal of the year.

"Unrelenting pressure by the Uni attack forced a strong tackle from the Mahomet defense inside their penalty area that brought down the attacking center midfielder [Belmont]," Anders said in his game report. "The supporting forward, Katie Buzard, was able to keep the ball in the area, as Belmont quickly got to her feet and hit the loose ball first time with a beautifully placed shot in the upper corner of the goal."

Uni's final record against big-school opponents came to 2-3-2 — not bad for a team gearing up for the 1A playoffs.

"I think it was one of our most aggressive games all season," said Machesky, "which is really helpful going into regionals, but I think we could have worked a little bit more on, I guess, team shape and passing, but the field was a little bit bigger than we were used to, so that was a little bit of a struggle."

Added Belmont: "We were really intense throughout the whole game. We just need to bring other parts of our game up with our intenseness."

May 18: Embarking on the postseason

The Illineks were supposed to begin playoff action on Saturday, but poor field conditions forced the game to be postponed to 3 p.m. today at Monticello High School.

Uni will face Decatur St. Teresa, who defeated Champaign St. Thomas More 5-1 in the opening round of regional action May 12.

The teams have already played once this year; Uni shut out St. Teresa 3-0 in a road game April 21.

If the Illineks win today, they will play for the regional title 4 p.m. Tuesday at Monticello. They would face the winner of today's other semifinal match, between Monticello and Decatur Lutheran.

"We definitely have to work on all the things that we saw from Mahomet that we need to improve," Machesky said, assessing the team's postseason chances. "And them hopefully if we win that game [against St. Teresa], I’d really like to make it to sectionals.

"And state," added Belmont.

"Hopefully we’ll make it," said Machesky.

Uni is part of the Chillicothe Illinois Valley Central sectional. If the Illineks win the Monticello regional, they would play the winner of the Williamsville regional in the sectional semifinals 3 p.m. Thursday at IVC. The sectional title game would be played 6 p.m. May 26 at IVC.

"It's really encouraging to be going into regionals as the No. 1 seed," said senior Joy Shapley, "and it ought to give us a little more confidence, because we know that we can beat these teams if we play the game we know how to play.

"Like Annie said, though, we can't assume that we're going to beat any team, and we have to take each game individually. Phil wants us to be looking ahead all the way to the end, but personally that feels like a lot of pressure to me. One game at a time. It's exciting because I know we can do it, but stressful at the same time."