The Hawkeyes are shut out once again in conference play.
by Jess Westendorf and Andrew Donlan
The Iowa soccer team fell to No. 17 Minnesota, 3-0, Thursday night at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in Minneapolis.
The Hawkeyes fought to keep the first half scoreless against the Gophers, matching them step for step.
Iowa managed to take three shots in the first half — the first shot came from redshirt freshman Kaleigh Haus in the 12th minute. Senior Bri Toelle sent a strike in the 32nd minute that went wide left of the goal. The last shot the Hawkeyes took was by redshirt junior Corey Burns in the 37th minute.
Minnesota came out firing in the second half. In the 60th minute, Josee Stiever scored off on an assist from Simone Kolander, and later, in the 86th-minute, the two hooked up once more to make the score 2-0.
“I give high marks for how hard our team played and competed tonight, and unfortunately, when you open yourself up defensively while you are a goal down, chasing a tie, it lends itself from getting away from you real fast at the end,” said head coach Dave DiIanni in a release.
The Gophers found the net one more time in the 88th-minute, when Simone Kolander scored on an assist from April Bocklin. Minnesota outshot the Hawkeyes 15-4 and secured its 10th win of the season.
Freshman Claire Graves played all 90 minutes in goal for the Hawkeyes, adding 4 saves to her season total. The Hawkeyes are now 7-7 on the season, 1-5 in the Big Ten play.
Iowa will take on Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Oct. 9. Last year, the Badgers were tied for the best conference record during the regular season. This year, they are 2-2-1 and sit seventh in the conference.
The Badgers average 1.15 goals per game and only allow 0.92 goals per game. Iowa should try to get on the board early on a team that has allowed 75 percent of its goals-against in the first half.
Iowa, on the other hand, tends to score most of the time in the second half.
At this point in the season, the Hawkeyes will take goals whenever they can get them, but scoring in the first half is crucial. The Hawkeyes, as many as shots as they take on goal each game, can’t afford to have to dig themselves out of early holes every match.
DiIanni noted that his team bent but didn’t break in its first conference win over Purdue. There needs to be more of that if the Hawkeyes want to remain in reach of their goals.
Against opponents such as Wisconsin and Minnesota, the Hawkeyes cannot afford to bend very much, because the Badgers and Gophers are too talented to be given any sort of opening.
