Prior to the start of Sunday’s game against Northwestern, the Iowa soccer team’s six seniors — Morgan Showalter, Emily Moran, Rachel Blakesley, Sarah Langlas, Gabby Tinner, and Alyssa Cosnek — were honored for Senior Day.

Their teammates decided to honor their seniors in a different way — the Hawkeyes poured on the offense in a 6-1 victory over the Wildcats.

The victory was the 12th on the season for Iowa, which moved to 4-4-2 in conference play.

The team was coming off a 1-0 loss against Nebraska in overtime and was suffering through a goal-scoring slump; prior to Sunday, Iowa had scored two goals in its past three games. The team went 1-2 in those games, with the only win being a 1-0 victory over Ohio State.

Iowa’s frustration fueled the team, Showalter said.

"The push everyone had today [stood out]" the Cedar Rapids native said. "People were going harder to the ball and wanting to finish that shot, because they were upset about something that happened in the Nebraska game. Everyone played hard for each other."

The victory was especially sweet for the seniors because it was the first time they had beaten Northwestern in their careers. It was also the first win over the ‘Cats for sixth-year head coach Ron Rainey.

"We talked about how we wanted to come out in this game," Showalter said. "We wanted to come out, prove ourselves, and better our chances of getting into the Big Ten tournament."

The Hawkeyes started the scoring when Jade Grimm headed a rebound over Northwestern goalkeeper Sam Hatfield in the 35th minute.

The Wildcats quickly responded, though, when Kate Allen beat Emily Moran to tie the game.

Iowa midfielder Dana Dalrymple put another in the net at the end of the half to go into the break with a 2-1 lead.

The squad locked down the Wildcats after halftime and shredded the defense with a variety of crosses, through-balls, and passes.

"Our team did some nice things today responding to some challenges," Rainey said. "[Northwestern] came back and tied the game, and we were able to respond right away with a goal. We played with a little bit of desperation today, which is nice to see."

Freshman Cloé Lacasse and sophomore Leah DeMoss took charge in the second half. The team’s top two offensive players both had two goals to bring their season totals up to 12 and 7, respectively.

"We’ve had our opportunities in other games, we just didn’t capitalize on our chances. It was good to do that today," Lacasse said. "Our transitions were much better, and attacking-wise, everybody was moving forward."

Iowa will finish the regular season on Saturday at Wisconsin, and Rainey said the offensive performance buoyed the team’s confidence about qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2008.

"We want to keep extending this season as long as we can, so we almost have to rededicate ourselves to work that much harder next week in practice," he said.