Hawkeye goalkeeper Monica Wilhelm dove to the ball when No. 8 Rutgers attempted a penalty kick in the 76^th minute of the matchup, but she didn’t dive quick enough.

The game-winning kick sent the ball underneath Wilhelm’s dive at Yurcak Field in New Jersey, giving the Scarlet Knights a 1-0 lead that Rutgers held onto for the rest of the contest.

Despite Wilhelm surrendering the only goal of the match, the redshirt junior from Antioch, Illinois, recorded a career-high 11 saves — the 12th-highest mark in program history.

“Monica played arguably the best game of her career,” Iowa head coach Dave DiIanni said in a release. “It is a shame we weren’t able to get the three points in that performance.”

The Scarlet Knights fired 27 shots during the match, while their defense kept Iowa’s attackers in check. The Hawkeyes registered six shots, with five in the first half.

Senior Hailey Rydberg and sophomore Meike Ingles led the Hawkeyes in shots with two each.

“I am happy with how we competed as a group and our resolve as individuals to fight for 90 minutes against an elite Rutgers squad,” DiIanni said. “We know every game in this conference the margin for error is small between winning and losing, but our team is committed to continue the growth to becoming the best version of ourselves”

BIG PICTURE  

The Hawkeyes (8-5-1 overall, 2-4 in the Big Ten) dropped their second straight match.

With the defeat, the Hawkeyes sit at ninth place in the Big Ten standings. Iowa will have to work its way into the eight-team Big Ten Tournament with four conference matches remaining.

The Hawkeyes have been shut out three times this season — the other two came at Kansas on Aug. 29 and Indiana on Sept. 23.

All but one of Iowa’s defeats have a differential of one goal.

ANOTHER NEW FORMATION

For the second straight match, the Hawkeyes came out in a different formation of their usual 4-3-3, as the Hawkeyes had their starting lineup in a 3-4-3 Sunday. In the last match, they were in a 3-5-2.

Sophomore Aleisha Ganief competed in her first match since Aug. 29 as a starting defender. Ingles, in her second match of the season, was a starter at forward.

Graduate transfer Courtney Powell, who typically plays as a forward, started as midfielder. The opposite was true for Rydberg, who is traditionally a midfielder, but started as a forward Sunday.

UP NEXT 

The Hawkeyes will travel to Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. The Cornhuskers (4-8-2 overall and 0-4-2 in the Big Ten), are coming off a 3-2 loss against No. 16 Michigan.

Last season, Iowa fell at Nebraska, 1-0, in the regular season finale. The last time the Hawkeyes defeated the Cornhuskers was in October 2019 when they won, 1-0, in Iowa City.