The story of the Iowa-Northwestern soccer match was supposed to be about the promotion of “Pink Weekend” and raising awareness for breast cancer.

But the weather stole the headlines.

Here are a couple stats from the night: 37 degrees and 33 mph gusts accompanied by nearly sideways rain.

“It obviously had an effect, but it’s not like we can chose,” sophomore Sarah Langlas said. “You have to take what you have, and the other team had to deal with it, too.”

The crowd was supposed to be large and clad in pink. Instead, the few fans who made it out to the Iowa Soccer Complex bleachers hid under umbrellas.

The Hawkeyes’ (8-8, 0-6) brand-new pink jerseys got soaked and provided little luck as the Wildcats (6-8-2, 3-3-1) defeated Iowa, 2-1, in extra time. Devastated by its second overtime loss of the season and fifth consecutive, Iowa players had deflated reactions.

“It hurts,” Langlas said. “It’s not fun to lose like that.”

The match was played almost entirely in the middle third of the field, as both teams struggled to keep possession of a slick ball. But all of a sudden, lightning figuratively struck for the Wildcats at the 12-minute mark. Not in the way they had planned, though.

Hawkeye sophomore midfielder Rachel Blakesley banged heads with a Wildcat player, and a foul was called on Iowa. Northwestern’s Briana Westlund took a penalty kick from just in front of the midfield line. The ball was deflected by an Iowa player and into the net for a Hawkeye own goal.

Blakesley needed stitches after the match, but she did return, playing the entire second half when the Hawkeye offense attacked from the get-go.

Sophomore forward Alyssa Cosnek nailed a shot from 15 yards out 39 seconds into the half. Freshman forward Alyscha Mottershead got the assist.

With the score even, the contest went back to being a battle for ball control as each team tried to put together a scoring trip before the end of regulation.

Freshman Jade Grimm and sophomore Morgan Showalter both blasted long-range shots at the eight-minute mark, which nearly put the Hawkeyes ahead.

Northwestern capitalized quickly into extra time with a goal at 8:26 by Jessica Palo just outside the box.

“I really think both teams worked pretty hard. The difference was [the Wildcats] were able to finish on one of their chances,” Iowa head coach Ron Rainey said. “I thought we put them under some good pressure in the second half.”

Rainey said he was encouraged by the team’s play, saying he saw improvements even in the loss.

“I told them, ‘We got to keep pressing on,’ ” he said. “We have to put forth maximum effort like this every game out. We have to play close to perfectly to get a result. I was proud of our effort level in these conditions.”

But that doesn’t make the loss any easier, Blakesley said as she left the parking lot.

“It was tough, but I feel like we stuck through it,” she said. “Unfortunately, things just didn’t go our way. We played till the very end, and it’s a shame that one play can end it like that.”