The Hawkeyes were handed yet another loss Oct. 23, Senior Night.

By Courtney Baumann
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Even though the Iowa soccer team finally got its offense rolling, the Hawkeyes could not salvage a win.

Iowa lost, 5-3, to Nebraska Oct. 23 at the Iowa Soccer Complex, Senior Night for the Hawkeyes.

“It’s hard to win game in the Big Ten when you give up 5 goals,” head coach Dave DiIanni said. “It’s kind of ironic; the first time we create some chances and score some goals … we give up 5.”

The Huskers scored 3 of their goals on corner kicks, of which they took 11. In contrast, Iowa only took 2. Nebraska also outshot Iowa, 18-9.

The Cornhuskers were on the board much earlier than Iowa had anticipated, scoring under two minutes into the game.

It did not take long for Iowa to respond, though.

Hannah Kousheh tied the game at 1 in the 17th minute. The freshman had an open-net shot after the ball escaped from Nebraska goalie Erika Johnson.

Corner kicks came into play again just a few minutes later, when Karly Stuenkel put the Hawks up 2-1.

Nebraska scored twice more before the end of the first half, going into the break ahead 3-2.

Again, the Huskers got off to a quick start in the second half, scoring in the first seven minutes.

Sophomore Stuenkel scored again just 23 seconds later to keep Iowa’s hopes up. Her goal total increased to 5, which put her in the ranks with Bri Toelle, who led the team with 5 going into the game.

“Right now, we’re just trying to play our hearts out and play for the seniors,” Stuenkel said “We want to play until the end of the season and get some wins, which obviously didn’t happen [Oct. 23], but I’m just trying to play my heart out.”

It being Senior Night added to the sting of the loss, senior Brooke Backes said.

Backes, who has played in and started every game of her senior campaign, was a bit emotional after the game.

“It’s disappointing, but I’m not going to base my four years here on one game,” she said. “I still have so much to be happy about, but it hurts right now.”

This season is the first time that the seniors will not have the opportunity to play in the Big Ten Tournament. For that reason, they wanted to leave their mark on the program in another way — by beating Nebraska.

In the eight-game history between the two teams, Iowa has never beaten the Huskers. The loss on Oct. 23 brought that record to 0-9-0.

Iowa has one last chance to get a final win for the seniors when the team plays No. 10 Rutgers at home on Wednesday.

“I thought we worked harder defensively off of our forwards, and that’s why we created some chances to score 3 goals. That’s a good foundation for our kids to look at,” DiIanni said. “We’re going to do the same thing on Wednesday.”