The Iowa soccer team was able to recover from its first loss of the season as it defeated Illinois 3-1 at home to improve to 10-1 on the year.

Senior forward Devin Burns scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season in the 13th minute off her left foot and into the upper left corner of the net.

The Fighting Illini were not deterred by this as in the 25th minute, senior forward Kelly Maday got in front of the Hawkeye defense and shot right past goalkeeper Claire Graves to tie the game up. Junior midfielder Hope Breslin had the assist.

Twelve minutes later, the Hawkeyes took the lead again, as sophomore defender Sara Wheaton shot a free kick from near midfield that took one hop into the net for her second goal of the season. 

“I [was] actually trying to serve it to the back post,” Wheaton said. “So originally I was like ‘Dang it,’ like I miss hit it. It went more towards the mid-post, but then after it went in, I was like ‘Hey, it wasn’t too bad.’”

Her teammates were incredibly impressed by the goal. Senior captain and defender Isabella Blackman described it as a bomb of a shot. 

The Hawkeyes put some insurance on the board in the second half as in the 85th minute senior forward Kaleigh Haus got the ball past senior goalkeeper Jaelyn Cunningham when she was right in front of her for her fourth goal of the season. Sophomore midfielder Hailey Rydberg and sophomore forward Samantha Tawharu had the assists. 

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“I think we were all really fired up after losing,” Blackman said. “And we knew we were better than how we played last Sunday and we wanted to prove that, and we especially wanted to get some more wins under our belt, and of course we wanted to keep our undefeated streak at home. All those factors are why we showed up tonight.”

Head coach Dave DiIanni said he thinks that might be the best his team has followed the scouting report this season. 

“Illinois is a very good team,” DiIanni said. “I thought they were incredibly dynamic up front.” 

Three yellow cards were given to the Hawkeyes in the first half. They were given to Rydberg, Burns and Blackman. 

“The first half we were all pretty frustrated with all we were all defending,” Blackman said. “When that frustration creeps in, it is really easy to lose your feet defensively and get really frustrated defensively, but the second half we were a lot more composed defensively, so we were able to limit those fouls.”

In the first half the Hawkeyes had 11 fouls but cut it down to only two in the second half. 

The Hawkeyes won the game despite having zero corner kicks, while the Fighting Illini had three. 

The Hawkeyes will have a quick turnaround for their next game, as they play the Wildcats at 1 p.m. Sept. 29. The Wildcats are 3-5-1 on the season, and they defeated the Cornhuskers in Nebraska, 1-0, tonight.

“For us, we’re going to enjoy this,” DiIanni said. “This is a really big win for us and our program. We’ll enjoy it until tomorrow and then focus on Northwestern, which is a very good team and well coached and be ready to go. We’re just excited to play every day.”