The Iowa soccer team split its first two Big Ten games of the season, winning 2-0 over Indiana on Sept. 20 and losing 1-0 to Purdue on Sunday. With these games, the team is 9-1 on the season. 

The Sept. 20 game against the Hoosiers got off to a good start. In the 36th minute, senior midfielder and defender Natalie Winters scored off a penalty kick. This happened after sophomore forward Samantha Tawharu was tackled inside the penalty box. This was Winters’ third penalty kick goal of the season, and the seventh of her career. It was also her fourth goal of the season. 

The Hawkeyes scored another goal in the second half, when senior forward Devin Burns assisted Tawharu for the second goal of the game in the 73rd minute. This was Tawharu’s third goal of the season. 

With the shutout, senior goalkeeper Claire Graves earned her fifth shutout of the season and her 22nd of her career. 

The win was the Hawkeyes first in a Big Ten opener since 2014, and their first time in program history opening Big Ten play with a road win. 

“It was a good start to the Big Ten season, grinding out three valuable points on the road in a tough Friday/Sunday weekend,” head coach Dave DiIanni said in a release. “There were moments today where you could visibly see the belief in each other and the effort they are putting in for one another.”

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Sunday’s game was the Hawkeyes’ first loss of the season and their first to the Boilermakers in a decade. In the 47th minute, Boilermaker freshman defender Sydney Sparks scored off a header for the only goal of the game. It was just the eighth goal the Hawkeyes have given up this season. 

The Hawkeyes did outshoot the Boilermakers 10-4, but sophomore goalkeeper Marisa Bova did a nice job for Purdue with three saves, while Iowa had zero. The Hawkeyes also led the game in corner kicks, having seven compared to the Boilermakers’ two. 

“Offensively, I like how we played from box-to-box compared to Friday’s game,” DiIanni said in a release. “The first 10 minutes of each half hurt us with physical and mental lapses. The lack of special moments in the final third was the greater issue today. We controlled a lot of possession, but that doesn’t win you games often enough in this tough conference. This team is resilient, and this game certainly won’t define our season. We will continue to grow next week.”

The Hawkeyes return at the 8 p.m. Thursday game against Illinois.