The No. 11 Iowa field-hockey team can’t seem to defeat anything Cardinal.
The Hawkeyes traveled east this past weekend for a pair of games, hoping to push their winning streak to eight.
They began their road trip in Bloomington, Ind., on Oct. 5 with a conference battle with Indiana (7-4, 0-4). The Hawkeyes (9-3, 3-0) found themselves in a struggle with both the Hoosiers and Mother Nature but were able to prevail, 2-1.
The Hoosiers struck early, scoring in the fourth minute of the contest. Morgan Fleetwood tallied the lone Indiana goal off a pass from Mariella Grote.
During the 16th-minute of the game, a lightning delay was called because of stormy conditions in the Bloomington area. The holdup lasted nearly 40 minutes before play resumed. Indiana held the Hawks scoreless for a time when play resumed, wrapping up the first half with a 1-0 lead.
But Iowa tied the game very quickly at the beginning of the second half. Junior Marike Stribos tabbed the equalizing goal on a penalty corner. Niki Schultheis assisted the clean shot.
The game remained scoreless until overtime, when junior Aubrey Coleman tallied the game-winner with fewer than two minutes remaining in the first overtime period. She was able to maneuver the ball downfield before placing a spotless strike passed the Hoosier goalie.
“We didn’t want to wait that long to finish the game,” head coach Tracey Griesbaum said in a release following Friday’s game. “Aubrey had really good skill and presence of mind to finish. That was really positive.”
The Hoosiers were disappointed with their bid for an upset.
“When we got to overtime, the team wasn’t going to settle for a loss and a moral victory,” Indiana head coach Amy Robertson told Indiana Daily Student reporter DeJuan Foster. “Our team was really heartbroken over the result, because they weren’t in that game just to play with Iowa. They wanted to win it.”
After both teams fought the torrential rain and gusts of wind, Iowa advanced to 3-0 in Big Ten play with the victory over Indiana. The Hawkeyes remain the only undefeated team left in the Big Ten.
The Hawkeyes had their win-streak snapped on Sunday in Kentucky, though, and finished their road-trip with a 1-1 record.
Louisville head coach Justine Sowry said in a release her team had “a great week of training” leading up to this weekend’s matchup with Iowa, and the hosts didn’t disappoint their fans.
The Louisville field hockey team downed Iowa, 2-1, at Trager Stadium, handing the Hawkeyes just their third loss of the season and first loss in 30 days.
Coleman picked up right where she left off on Sunday, putting away the first goal for Iowa in the 29th minute. Louisville answered four minutes later with a goal of their own from Elisa Garcia.
Louisville netted the game-winner in the 57th minute of the contest on a Victoria Stratton shot from a penalty corner.
Griesbaum wasn’t very pleased with her offensive production from the weekend, especially in Sunday’s game.
“We’re not scoring soon enough and often enough,” she said in a release. “It’s putting an increased amount of pressure on our defense.”