Senior midfielder Dana Dalrymple’s insurance goal in the 77th minute proved to be vital as the Iowa women’s soccer team moved to over .500 (2-1) in Big Ten play with a 3-2 victory over Purdue at the Iowa Soccer Complex on Sunday.

The win was the Hawkeyes’ second-consecutive victory and pushed the Black & Gold to 11-1-0 overall.

“We’re pretty excited that we just beat a pretty good team,” sophomore midfielder Katie Nasenbenny said. “Last season, we started conference play with two ties and a win, and this year we have two wins and a loss, so we’re already ahead of last year.”

Dalrymple’s shot from inside the box off a ball from junior forward Ashley Catrell put the Hawkeyes up 3-1. The score was the upperclassmen’s fifth of the season and second point of the game.

“Today we really took it to them, finishing our chances and getting our reps in,” Dalrymple said. “It’s a good thing I scored off of that chance because we needed it in the end.”

The tally stood as the game-winner after a defensive lapse led to an own goal by the Hawkeyes in the final minute of the contest.

Rainey was confused about what happened on the miscue and attributed the mistake to his team relaxing a bit prematurely.

“We’ll have to breakdown the film and take a look at it,” he said. “We allowed a person to get wide, and maybe we just didn’t do a good enough job of closing the game out.

Junior defenseman Alex Melin put the Hawkeyes up for good with a header off of a free kick in the 63rd minute, four minutes after the Boilermakers notched an equalizer.

Iowa head coach Ron Rainey thought that Melin’s goal was the turning point of the game. He said that a key to his squad’s success this season has been an ability to bounce back from opposing scores, and that the Melin’s goal was another example.

“It was huge, just a great response,” Rainey said. “We’ve been doing that after being scored on and again was just an outstanding individual effort by Mel.”

Sophomore forward Cloe Lacasse continued to nurse an ankle injury and saw on-and-off action throughout the contest, but Rainey said the limited time was due to more precautionary measures rather than health.

“Cloe’s fine; she was able to give us some minutes,” Rainey said. “I think it’s an injury that’s only going to get better, so you have to avoid some of the contact on that spot.”

Sunday capped off an important weekend for the Hawkeyes as they were in danger of falling into a 0-3 hole in conference play. Instead, the team responded with a pair of wins, beginning with a 1-0 shutout of Indiana on Sept 21.

“I’d be interested to know the last time we went through a weekend clean with two wins in Big Ten play,” Rainey said. “We can never take for granted how hard it is to get two results in this league.”

The last time Iowa swept a pair of conference foes in a single weekend was on Sept. 28 and 30, 2007, when the Hawkeyes beat both Michigan and Michigan State at home.

That 2007 squad finished 4-6-0 in Big Ten play, but more weekends like this one will make sure the 2012 squad doesn’t suffer the same fate.

“It’ll be interesting to see who got two wins in our league this weekend,” Rainey said. “And right now, we’re fired up to be one of them.”