Iowa soccer only needed one penalty kick to take its exhibition match against University of Northern Iowa, 1-0, Friday night at the Iowa Soccer Complex.

The Panthers fouled freshman forward/midfielder Kenzie Roling within the penalty box in the 18^th minute of the match and the Hawkeye converted the penalty kick to give Iowa its slim victory.

“One of my teammates played me a really good ball, and I kind of did what I needed to and drew the foul,” Roling said. “I was honestly not expecting to take the PK, so that was nice of [Iowa head coach Dave DiIanni] to let me take it being a freshman, but it was cool to score that goal and get the team up right away.”

In high school, Roling was her team’s penalty kicker. Roling said a joke surrounding her high school team was how nervous she became taking penalty kicks — on Friday, she felt some jitters, but remembered the fundamentals.

The Waverly, Iowa, native scored a goal in each of the team’s exhibition matches — her first two in Black and Gold. Roling said that, as a freshman, she’s feeling pretty good about her development so far, but she still has a lot of work to do to compete at the Big Ten level.

“I can definitely be better at my game recognition,” Roling said. “A lot of times I see the pass but I’m a little late, and also Dave [DiIanni] and I have been working on when to make those runs and when to hold the ball. So ,I might not get that long ball, but I can maybe lay it off to someone to get that.”

Compared to Iowa’s matchup against South Dakota last week, DiIanni said the Hawkeyes were better in almost every area and he saw individual improvement across the board — especially with Roling and senior forwards Alyssa Walker and Courtney Powell.

DiIanni was also happy to see senior defender Sara Wheaton back on the pitch, and complimented freshman midfielder Addie Bundy’s play.

Bundy played in both halves, taking corner kicks in the second half of the match.

“I think I’m fitting in really well,” Bundy said. “I mean everyone has been absolutely so welcoming. There isn’t a person that I don’t trust on the field, and it’s been great so far and I can’t wait to keep pushing on.”

Through DiIanni was happy with the Hawkeyes’ eight corner kicks, he said Iowa needs to focus on the final third of the field — the details of scoring goals. DiIanni thought the Hawkeyes missed multiple scoring opportunities within their 15 shots.

The Hawkeyes will play the first regular season match of their 2021 campaign on Thursday against DePaul in Chicago, with kickoff at 4 p.m.

“I think we have six [days] to get people a bit more fit and a bit more comfortable with how we want to play,” DiIanni said. “I think one of the best things yet is we didn’t give up a goal yet in our two exhibition games and I think that has to be our identity like it was in the spring.”