The Iowa field-hockey team defeated St. Louis (1-5), 12-0, on Sept. 19 at Grant Field. The Hawkeyes’ 12 goals matched their combined total from the first six games of the season, and Iowa improved its record to 2-5.

Prior to the contest, five different Hawkeyes had combined to score just six goals in Iowa’s four home losses.

More than a handful of Hawkeyes sparked the team’s offensive explosion against St. Louis.

Freshman Sarah Drake didn’t wait three minutes before jump-starting Iowa’s scoring barrage, tallying her fifth goal of the season on a penalty corner at the 2:26 mark. Senior Meghan Beamesderfer assisted.

“It felt really good prove it to ourselves and others that we can score.” Drake said, “We can finish, and we can take home a win.”

She fired another into the cage at the 54:20 mark of the game, her sixth of the year.

Senior Tricia Dean scored her second, third, and fourth goals of the season — all coming consecutively — earning her first career hat trick. Her goals at 9:18 and 13:58 were both unassisted, sandwiching her second goal at 11:12, which came off Iowa’s first penalty stroke of the season.

“I think [Meghan Beamesderfer] was a little more excited than I was,” Dean joked. “No, it was great. It definitely feels good to finish, but I was more worried about getting the win.”

Senior Jess Werley, not to be outdone by Dean, also recorded her first career hat trick, scoring Iowa’s second goal at the 6:53 mark, then hitting back-to-back goals at 15:05 and 17:21.

Werley’s three goals give her six on the season, tying her with Drake for the team lead.

In addition to tallying an assist, Beamesderfer found the back of the net twice as well, scoring at the 29:16 and 31:23 marks of the first half.

Also scoring goals for the Hawkeyes were freshmen Geena Lesiak and sophomore Becca Spengler. Their goals came at 33:49 and 62:58, with Werley assisting on Spengler’s goal.

Iowa head coach Tracey Griesbaum was pleased with her team’s scoring outburst but said she thinks her players still have plenty of things to work on.

“We are challenging them to not just totally evaluate their performance on the result, but the game within the game,” she said. “With that, I think we’re going to be obviously happy that we won.

“We need that for our confidence. But there are parts of the game that I thought were really good, and then there were parts of the game that really were not.”

Griesbaum’s gang will return to Grant Field for practice three days this week before heading up to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the team’s Big Ten opener against Michigan on Friday.

“I think this week of practice is going to be vital,” Griesbaum said. “I’m not ready for Michigan yet — I want those three days.”