It was a tale of two halves Sunday at Grant Field.

In the first, No. 13 Iowa (3-1) had trouble getting established offensively and fell victim to 2 early goals by North Carolina (4-0), which tallied 11 shots in the first 35 minutes. However, at halftime the Hawkeyes adjusted and put up a spirited effort despite losing the game three of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, 3-1.

No. 1 North Carolina got the ball to start the game and rushed down the pitch into Hawkeye territory; at the 1:05 mark, junior Loren Shealy chipped in a pass from sophomore Emily Wold to give her team an immediate lead.

The Tar Heels struck again at the 15:08 mark when junior Charlotte Craddock deflected a rebound into the Hawkeye net shortly after a penalty corner. The goal turned out to be all the top-ranked team in the land would need to get the victory.

Head coach Tracey Griesbaum called a time-out soon after the second goal to stop the Tar Heel’s momentum and prevent any further damage. After the time-out, Iowa continued to spend a large portion of the time remaining in the half defending their own defensive zone. However, the squad didn’t allow any more goals and made it to halftime down 2-0.

Griesbaum’s team made adjustments at the break that turned the game around in their favor for much of the second half.  The Hawkeyes put more pressure on the ball defensively and were more aggressive on attack.

“I thought our team did a very good job of what we talked about at half time — and it made a really big difference,” the 14-year head coach said.

And make a big difference it did. Iowa came out strong and got a quick goal on a penalty corner from Dani Hemeon just 5:20 into the second half. Senior Niki Schultheis passed the ball to the junior who sniped it past Carolina goalkeeper Sassi Ammer (5 saves) to bring the Hawkeyes within 1.

“[We] knew their trails played really in, so I just looked and saw the keeper was letting me play short side,” Hemeon said. “So I just went to her hands, and it ended up working out.”

After the goal, the Hawkeyes continued to keep the pressure on despite failing to put any more balls in the back of the cage. Freshman Stephanie Norlander created one of the best chances of the afternoon on an outlet pass. The North Vancouver, B.C., native streaked down the right side of the field and drew a penalty corner. However, the shot went wide, and the Hawks squandered an opportunity.

After a few more Hawkeye chances, North Carolina was awarded a penalty corner as the clock expired. Junior Abby Frey beat goalkeeper Kelsey Boyce (8 saves) for the final goal after the clock ran out.

“It was a great college hockey game,” North Carolina head coach Karen Shelton said. “I felt like we had good control of the first half … second half, credit to them again, they made good adjustments and kind of took us out of our game.”