Defender Annie Machesky (4) blocks a Central pass during Uni's 5-0 loss. Gargoyle photo by Dave Porreca (click to enlarge)

CHAMPAIGN — In the first varsity meeting between the Uni and Champaign Central girls soccer teams, the visiting Maroons handily defeated the Illineks 5-0 Wednesday at First and Stadium Turf Field.

Central's Kimberlyn Vega opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a direct kick from the center of the field 25 yards out.

Vega followed that up nine minutes later with her second goal, taking advantage of an uncleared ball in front of the Uni goal.

In the 21st minute, Anna Rogers gave the Maroons an insurmountable 3-0 lead when she scored on an attack from the left wing.

"I think we went to the game feeling really intimidated, and Central is a really big team," said junior midfielder Michelle Wong. "They have nine out of 11 of their starters as members of a club team, so they all had a lot of experience on the field. So we went out there … we were just scared."

The Illineks settled down and kept Central off the board for the remainder of the first half. But when play resumed, the visitors came out as aggressive as ever, scoring in the 41st minute on a direct kick from the right corner that was deflected in front of the Uni goal.

Central found the back of the next for the final time when Mia Gilliam moved across the top of the penalty box in the 52nd minute and made a sliding shot while being pressured.

The Illineks held Central scoreless for the remaining 28 minutes.

"We did do good things," Wong said. "We passed well in the center, and defense did a good job clearing the ball, but little mistakes came in here and there and led us to a 5-0 loss."

Uni outshot Central 11-10, but the Maroons took advantage of Illinek defensive mistakes.

"I think that most of the goals could've been easily prevented like the free kicks and the corner kicks," junior defender Sian Best said, "but they're just things the defense will have to work on, and hopefully they’ll get better as the games go on. There are certainly things about the game where defense was definitely supporting each other, and it shows that we can do that, but we just have to implement it more in our games."

Sophomore Eunjung Kim and senior Rachel Skoza shared the goalkeeping, with Kim allowing three scores and Skoza two. Jordan Slade earned the shutout for the Maroons.

The news was much better for Uni when the JV teams took the field. The Illineks defeated Central 3-0 behind goals by sophomore Cristina Gratton (Kim assist, 10th minute), sophomore Revathi Maturi (Gratton assist, 14th minute), and freshman Vivian Hagerty (sophomore Katayun Salehi assist, 30th minute).

Freshman keeper Jamie Blue remained unscored upon this season as she combined with Kim for the shutout.

Next up for Uni: The girls will play their third Champaign opponent in five days when they host Judah Christian 4:30 p.m. Friday at First and Stadium.

Varsity Season Statistics at a Glance