The Iowa soccer team tied with Purdue, 2-2, Thursday at the Iowa Soccer Complex.

The Hawkeyes outshot Purdue, 20-12, put nine shots on goal, and generated eight corner kicks to Purdue’s two.

Purdue scored both of its goals in the first half, and freshman Kayla Budish opened the Boilermakers’ scoring in the 20th minute.

The Boilermakers tacked on a second goal in the 42nd minute after a shot hit Hawkeye graduate student Cassidy Formanek’s outstretched arm in the penalty area. Formanek got a yellow card on the handball and Purdue earned a penalty kick. 

Purdue junior Emily Mathews stepped up and put the shot past the right side of junior goalkeeper Macy Enneking, giving Purdue a 2-0 lead.

Coming out of halftime, Purdue scored an own goal, cutting Iowa’s deficit to one in the 46th minute. Iowa tied the game when Caroline Halonen scored on a free kick from just under 25 yards out in the 55th minute. Halonen said her shot was one she spent a lot of time working on in practice.

“I was pretty confident when I went up for it and then just tried to put it over the wall,” she said.

Head coach Dave DiIanni said the Hawkeyes started the game well but became flat later on in the first half. Iowa did more than enough to win the game in the second half, DiIanni said, playing as a unit and creating plenty of chances.

“We went to a 3-4-3, and I think that helped,” DiIanni said. “We took care of the midfield and kind of controlled that. And then I just asked them to be committed to pressing. Go forward, press, put them under pressure. And I think a lot of our chances were created out of that.”

Big Picture

The Hawkeyes now sit at 3-6-6 overall.

In the Big Ten, Iowa is 0-3-4 with four points — 11th in the conference.

Elle Otto returned to the starting lineup on Sunday at Minnesota after recovering from an illness, but Kyndal Anderson and Kenzie Roling are still out with injuries.

DiIanni said both Anderson and Roling are out for the season.

Emma Kozicki earns minutes

Freshman Emma Kozicki played 28 minutes against Purdue on Thursday night. Before the game against the Boilermakers, the forward had only made two appearances for the Hawkeyes, which combined for 20 minutes.

DiIanni said Kozicki was injured for most of the preseason and is now getting herself up to speed.

“For a freshman, that is very challenging,” DiIanni said. “She’s shown some things the last two games. At Minnesota, she created some good corners. She’s a good player. So, we’re going to try to get her as many minutes as we can as we get moving here.”

What’s next

Iowa will host 6-4-5 Nebraska on Sunday at the Iowa Soccer Complex at 1 p.m. The Hawkeyes are 3-11-1 against the Cornhuskers all-time, but have gone 3-1-1 since 2017.

The teams most recently faced off in 2021 when Iowa posted a 4-3 win in Lincoln. Nebraska is currently 4-1-2 in the Big Ten coming off a home win against Illinois.