A next-door field field hockey game proved no distraction and an opposing goalkeeper change yielded no end to the No. 10 Iowa soccer team’s offense. Iowa topped St. Louis, 3-0, Sunday afternoon at the Iowa soccer complex.
While not a ranked victory, the Billikens ranked one point away from a top-25 national ranking and owned an impressive resume heading into the day.
A top team in the Atlantic 10 conference, St. Louis qualified for the NCAA tournament for seven straight years, including a second-round appearance last season. Iowa improved to 3-1-1 on the year with two more non-conference matches remaining on the schedule.
“Really happy with this group,” Iowa head coach Dave Dilanni said postgame. “This is probably the most impactful our bench has been all year. So far in the young season, we’ve got great minutes off the bench.”
Substitutes Eileen Solomon and Kelli McGroarty each notched a point for the Hawkeyes, with starter Liana Tarasco leading the squad with two. Her assist broke open the game five minutes into the second half. Dribbling the ball at the edge of the penalty box, she fired a lateral pass to her right toward teammate Eileen Solomon. The Boston University transfer lofted a high-arcing shot that escaped the outreached hands of St. Louis goalkeeper Nimu Karani and slipped under the crossbar for a 3-0 lead.
Tarasco and Solomon joined Kenzie Roling as Iowa’s goal scorers, with Kelli McGroarty and Elle Wildman adding assists. Iowa logged 16 shots during the contest, more than half the total St. Louis allowed heading into the game.
Tarasco’s first point arrived about five minutes into the game. Dashing in the open field, the first-year received a pass in-stride from Wildman and snuck her attempt into the far right corner of the net. The score was her second of the year following her go-ahead notch against Arkansas in the season-opener.
“The goal meant a lot to me, but I couldn’t have done it without the rest of my teammates,” Tarasco said. “We’ve just been working on it all week, I’m proud of how we bounced back from Thursday [a 0-0 draw against Loyola Chicago].”
Tarasco’s shot, the Hawkeyes’ third of the game at that point, was emblematic of a relentless Iowa offense that piled on nine shots during the first half. Defender Kenzie Roling extended the lead with a rebound shot off a set piece from McGroarty. St. Louis goalkeeper Emma Parker made a diving save on McGroarty’s set piece from just outside the arc, and Roling pounced on the deflection.
The defense shared the potency, allowing just one shot in the first half and five for the game.
“Our front five worked hard to eliminate [St. Louis] playing direct and putting us under pressure with the back line,” Dilanni said. “I thought we retained the ball after the ball went in the air, and we opened them up.”
Goalkeeper Taylor Kane never had to make a save until the closing minute of the half. She would finish with two saves and improve to 3-0 in her starts, marking her best season since her first year at Division III Pomona Pitzer. Taylor is battling with sophomore Fernanda Mayrink for the starting spot.
“We’ve been playing goalkeeper based on the opponent,”Dilanni said. “But Taylor’s minimized any bad mistakes out there and has been really calm with her presence. And today she won three balls in the air on set pieces that I thought maybe she didn’t do a year ago. Work in progress for that group, but she’s doing a great job. We love the competition.”
Injury Updates
Hawkeye forward Meike Ingles will miss the rest of the season due to injury, Dilanni confirmed postgame. The coach declined to specify the nature of the injury, but Ingles wore a cast covering her entire left leg Sunday.
The injury occurred five minutes into the season opener, and Ingles hasn’t played since. The grad student from Shelby Township, Michigan, scored seven goals last season, tied for the team lead.
Up Next
Iowa hosts rival Iowa State Thursday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. The Cyclones are 1-0-2 on the season, picking up a shutout road victory over Creighton. Since 1997, the Hawkeyes are 16-8-2 against their in-state foe, including a 9-2-2 mark at home.