In an offensive clinic, the Iowa women’s soccer team stunned the Oregon Ducks by a score of 4-0 early Sunday afternoon in front of a lively crowd at the UI Soccer Complex in Iowa City.
With the win, Iowa moves to 13-1-3 on the season and will look to continue its ongoing success on the field with their last regular season matchup against Minnesota on Oct. 27.
Four different Hawkeyes found success on the pitch, while fifth-year goalkeeper Macy Enneking made history.
Enneking became Iowa’s all time leader in career victories as a goalkeeper, with 39 wins. Fellow teammates helped Enneking celebrate in style with the only acceptable celebration — a Gatorade shower.
To begin the first half session of the clinic, Iowa midfielder Rielee Fetty recorded her second goal after strategically shifting through the defense at the 17:21 minute mark, pushing the score to 1-0. Forward Meike Ingles produced the assist, her fifth of the season.
First-year Caleigh Collard kept the momentum rolling, recording her first collegiate goal of her career at the 34:23 minute mark. Berkeley Binggeli was credited with the assist, moving the Hawkeyes to a comfortable 2-0 lead going into half.
Head coach Dave Dilanni was thrilled to see Collard find success in the box.
“I’ve known Callie since she was seven,” said Dilanni. “She was ready to play today when her number was called. And I am proud of her for that.”
It did not take long for the combative Hawkeye offense to pick up right where they left off in the second half. Sofia Bush achieved her fifth goal of the season at the 53:58 mark, with first-year Berit Parten threading the needle for Bush.
Even with a decisive 3-0 lead, Iowa continued to pressure Oregon goalkeeper Anna Solomon. And with six minutes left to play in regulation, Delaney Holtey would secure the final goal for the Hawkeyes, her first of the season.
After a brief review from the officials, it was deemed that Holtey was not offside, moving the score to 4-0 in favor of Iowa, who coasted to victory from there.
Oregon concluded the game with seven total shots, none of which were successful.
Iowa finished with nearly triple the amount of shots as the Ducks, accumulating 20 shots on the night and keeping the Oregon defense on its toes the whole night.
Defensively, Enneking played well and recorded five saves on the night and a shut-out. For the Ducks, Solomon recorded five saves, on four goals allowed.
Dilanni was more than pleased with his team’s efforts on the field.
“We were a little slow starting at the beginning of the game, but I thought from then on, for 80 minutes we played really well,” said Dilanni. “We played 12 players off the bench. Today was a complete victory for our staff, for our program, and for our players.”
Battle for Floyd of Rosedale on the pitch
Iowa is set to travel up north for their last regular season game before the Big Ten Tournament to face a highly respectable Minnesota Golden Gophers squad, who enters the contest with a record of 11-3-3 on the season.
Dilanni stressed some much needed time for rest for the team to prepare for the Gophers, and then will spend time focusing their efforts on star forward Khyah Harper, who has an astonishing 16 goals on the year. In comparison, the next closest Gopher has four goals on the season.
“Minnesota is playing about as good as anybody,” said Dilanni. “They are very athletic. So I think it will be a very interesting game. They are open, probably more open than anyone in the conference. They have the leading goal scorer in the conference right now, it might even be the country. It’s going to be a great matchup for us, and they are going to have an atmosphere of a couple thousand people so it will be great for us to see how it goes.”
The showdown between the Gophers and Hawkeyse is set for 1:00 p.m. CT at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.