All season long, the Michigan women’s soccer team has struggled with passive play in the first half.

And in the most important game of the season, the Wolverines’ lack of urgency in the first half was too much to overcome. Needing a win to make the Big Ten Tournament and prolong the season, Michigan lost, 3-2, to No. 20 Illinois (8-2-1 Big Ten, 14-4-1 overall).

“At the end of the season you’ve got to have that urgency, and we lacked that urgency in a couple of our last games,” said redshirt junior Clare Stachel. “In the second half, we came out blazing — we went hard to every ball and we put two goals in the back of the net — but the beginning of the game is just as crucial as the end of the game.”

With its season on the line, Michigan (4-6-1, 9-8-2) allowed the Fighting Illini to take control early in the game. Playing with the aggression that the Wolverines desperately needed, Illinois struck first in the 28th minute when forward Jannelle Flaws redirected a cross into the lower left corner of the net.

With a 1-0 deficit and its season slipping away, Michigan stepped up its level of play in the second half. It was aggressive on the attack, pressuring the Fighting Illini defense. But despite a greater sense of urgency, the Wolverines suffered another defensive lapse just minutes into the second half.

In the 52nd minute, Illinois defender Kassidy Brown stole the ball from Michigan’s defense. After taking possession of the ball, Brown sent the ball to midfielder Julie Ewing, who received the pass in the center of Michigan’s box and squeaked a shot past redshirt junior goalie Haley Kopmeyer.

“We turned over the ball twice in our own end, didn’t defend properly, and (Kopmeyer) was hung out to dry,” said Michigan coach Greg Ryan. “I think our defense has been solid in the majority of our games this year, but these last two games we’ve really let down. It’s just a lack of concentration and making silly errors.”

The Wolverines battled back from a two-goal deficit. Sophomore forward Nkem Ezurike closed the deficit to one when she tallied her 11th goal of the season with less than 17 minutes to go. After corralling a lob from freshman midfielder Christina Murillo, Ezurike put the ball in the back of the net in the lower right corner.

Michigan’s physical play, though, led to trouble with minutes left in the game when its defense was called for a personal foul in its own box in the 84th minute. Illinois capitalized on the penalty kick, putting the game out of reach.

Senior defender Kim Seibert scored her first career goal two minutes later off an assist from Ezurike, but it was too little too late for the Wolverines.

“(Illinois) played very well for the whole game and we just played very, very well in the second half,” Ryan said. “We just weren’t able to take the game to Illinois in the first half. We didn’t put together a full 90 minutes.”

Kopmeyer made 10 saves in the game, increasing her single-season record of total to 115. She will enter next season needing 26 saves to become all-time saves leader in the program’s history.

For senior defenders Kristen Goncalves and Seibert, as well as senior midfielder Courtney Mercier, the game against the Fighting Illini was their last in a Michigan uniform.