The No. 14 Iowa soccer team defeated No. 24 Washington 1-0 in dominant fashion on Thursday, welcoming the Huskies to Iowa City for the first time as a member of the Big Ten conference. The match between the Hawkeyes and Huskies marked the first game ever between the two highly respected programs.
With the victory, Iowa moves to 12-1-3 on the season and 7-1-1 in conference play, while the Huskies drop to 8-5-2 overall and 5-4 in their inaugural Big Ten campaign.
“This team is accomplishing things that teams at Iowa have never done before,” head coach Dave Dilanni told HawkeyeSports. “I think tonight was another good example of that. We’re mature and they have been very focused on the task at hand.”
The Iowa offense set the tone early, keeping the Washington defense on their toes with multiple nine shots in the first period.
The Hawkeyes would not find success until the 35:31 mark when first year prodigy Berit Parten scored off the bounce of a corner kick, solidifying her new top 100 ranking by Top Drawer Soccer. It marked Parten’s seventh goal of the season and pushed Iowa to a 1-0 lead.
The Hawkeye goal pushed Washington goalkeeper Mia Hamant’s goals allowed to seven on the season, and the Huskies were held to only two shots in the first half.
While Iowa had set the tone in the first half, the Huskies would soon find momentum of their own in the second half. Washington led Iowa in shots in the second period, 5-2, but couldn’t capitalize against the Iowa defense.
Iowa concluded the match with 11 shots on goal, while goalkeeper Macy Enneking recorded three crucial saves for the Hawkeyes, moving her season total to 40. After shutting out Washington, Iowa’s shut-out total has moved to nine on the season.
Offensively, Washington finished with seven shots, three of which were on goal. Hamant was active on the night, recording five total saves.
“We took a bit of a reality check; we’ve lost one game, ” Dilanni told HawkeyeSports. “We were disappointed with how we lost to Wisconsin. I told the team a couple times that we had every excuse to not do well at Rutgers. We’re flying out there commercial, it takes us forever to get out there, and Rutgers is good at home. I thought our mentality out there was special. To turn around and do the same thing again today is special.”
Up Next
Iowa will have to make a quick turnaround with a home match on Oct 20 against the Oregon Ducks, who are 5-9-2 on the season. This will also be the first match between the Ducks and the Hawkeyes, starting what is likely to be a very exciting series between the two teams.
The game is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. and is slated to receive coverage from Big Ten Plus.