At Grant Field on Sunday, No. 18 Iowa routed Pacific (3-10, 1-2), 7-2. But it wasn’t the number of goals that impressed Tracey Griesbaum, it was the way they were scored and who scored them.
“I thought it was really fun. We have people, obviously every team does, that are going to lead the team in goals scored, but ours goes pretty deep,” the 14-year head coach said. “Getting a penalty stroke, getting a field goal, getting an assisted field goal — super, really good to see the variety.”
The Hawkeyes (8-5, 1-2) opened the scoring just 2:28 into the game. Stephanie Norlander put a Natalie Cafone assist home to grab an early 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Cafone made it look easy as she carried the ball the entire length of the field and slammed it into the back of the net to go up by two scores.
Pacific used a time-out after the second goal to stop the bleeding. However, at the 8:45 mark, Dani Hemeon lifted the ball over a defender’s stick and unleashed a shot from the goalkeeper’s right side that was deflected up high and found the goal.
“We always want to try to score first and maintain that and just keep going and maintain the energy for the entire 70 minutes,” Cafone said.
Aubrey Coleman turned a strong defensive play in the middle of the field into offense to put her team up by four scores at the 19:50 mark. The senior stopped a Pacific athlete and carried the ball into the Tigers defensive zone, splitting defenders and scoring from the top of the circle for her only goal of the afternoon.
Shortly after, Cafone netted her second goal of the half on a breakaway to close the scoring in the first period.
Goalkeeper Kelsey Boyce got the second half off and Alexandra Pecora played in net. The freshman allowed a goal on her blocker side from Emily Tregoning less than five minutes into the half.
However, Iowa took the goal back thanks to a Kelsey Mitchell score. The senior received an assist from Cafone and went five-hole on keeper Maggie Corder for her team’s sixth of the afternoon.
Marike Stribos scored on a penalty stroke after Norlander was fouled in the circle for Iowa’s final goal of the afternoon. Kyleigh Morrison scored on a Pacific penalty corner to complete the scoring at 7-2.
Despite the score, Griesbaum and Niki Schultheis were disappointed that the Hawkeyes gave up six penalty corners. The head coach said her team will not be able to get away with allowing that many in the future.
“We need to give up fewer [penalty corners],” Schultheis said. “We wanted to give up fewer; however, we still gave up quite a few.”
Iowa is scheduled to travel Thursday to Ohio for matches with Ohio State on Friday in Columbus and in Oxford with Miami on Oct. 20.
“This is really good momentum for us going into next week,” Cafone said. “We’re just going to try to keep rolling here.”