Iowa loses to Rutgers, 2-0, in last match of the 2015 season.
By Adam Hensley
On a chilly Wednesday evening, the Iowa soccer team lost to Rutgers, 2-0. The Scarlet Knights came into the game ranked ninth in the country.
“We knew Rutgers was going to be a difficult game for us,” Iowa head coach Dave DiIanni said. “They rank up there [as] one of the best, if not the best.”
Senior Hannah Clark agrees and thinks the Scarlet Knights have a chance to compete at a high level.
“Rutgers is a really good team,” she said. “They have some awesome players. They are going to do well this season.”
Rutgers stands at 14-2-2 overall, 7-2-2 in the Big Ten. Only Penn State and Wisconsin are ahead of it in the standings.
On the other hand, Iowa finished the season with only one win in Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes ended with a 7-10-1 overall record.
Clark, along with three other seniors, suited up for the Hawkeyes for the last time.
“We fought hard the whole game, so we gave all we could,” she said. “It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we fought hard — it’s all we could do.”
The temperature dipped to 41 degrees (32 with wind chill) during the game.
Despite the cold, Rutgers started off hot. Two minutes into the game, Hayley Katkowski scored a goal for the Scarlet Knights.
“We are just not equipped to be able to battle from behind so early,” DiIanni said.
Early in the first half, the Knights seemed to be in control of the game. They took 4 shots before Iowa took its first, and they kept the ball on Iowa’s side of the field for most of the half.
But after that, Iowa was able to joust with the Knights.
“We just started working harder,”DiIanni said. “We made a few changes, got a little more organized, moved the ball well, and frustrated Rutgers for the better part of the first half.”
With slightly more than 21 minutes left in the half, Iowa had its best shot of the game. Karly Stuenkel’s strike, which would have tied the game, rolled just past the goal.
At halftime, Rutgers led 1-0. It had put up 13 shots compared with Iowa’s 5.
The second half was a continuation of Iowa’s struggle with shooting.
Madison Tiernan’s goal for the Knights in the 56th minute put them up 2-0, a lead that proved to be too much to overcome.
Playing with a 2-0 lead, Rutgers took its foot off the gas pedal and played to hold the lead — trying its best to keep the ball out of Iowa’s possession.
Iowa registered 1 shot in the second half, coming with 2:48 left in the game.
Rutgers took 23 shots, had 4 saves, 1 corner kick, and 7 fouls.
By comparison, Iowa had only 6 shots but managed 6 saves, 2 corner kicks, and 8 fouls.
“I said to [the team] at the end of the game ‘No. 1, don’t get used to losing. That is a bad habit,”DiIanni said. “Two, I think we had a lot of people who got a lot of very good minutes and experience. I’m excited to see how they develop. I thought the seniors played really hard today.”