The No. 13 Iowa field hockey team split its Big Ten East Coast road trip with a 1-0 double overtime loss to Penn State and an extra-time 4-3 victory against No. 16 Rutgers.
The Hawkeyes’ Friday did not go exactly to plan as both Iowa and Penn State remained in equal control throughout the entire game. Both teams had roughly the same number of shots and penalty corner opportunities.
In the end, after one 10-minute overtime period and four minutes of the second overtime period, Penn State’s Olivia Marthins snuck one past Iowa fourth-year goalkeeper Mia Magnotta, sealing the upset win for the Nittany Lions.
Following Friday’s heartbreaking loss, Iowa’s Sunday too did not start off as planned, with Rutgers’ Sophie Kuiper getting an early goal only a minute into the game.
The Hawkeyes would struggle to maintain control and were whistled for a late first-period penalty.
Rutgers’ Paulina Niklaus took this early opportunity to slide one past Iowa’s Mia Magnotta, allowing the Scarlet Knights to have a two-goal lead going into the second quarter.
After a rough first quarter, the Hawkeyes quickly began the comeback with two key penalty corner opportunities, but both turned out to be unsuccessful.
Following shortly after the second of those two penalty corner opportunities, graduate student Frédreique Van Cleef stole the ball from a Rutgers defender. Sprinting toward the goal, and just before going out of bounds, Van Cleef tapped the ball to third-year Dionne Van Aalsum, who scored Iowa’s first goal of the weekend.
Following the halftime break, Iowa sprang back into offensive action with three consecutive penalty corner opportunities.
The first two attempts were blocked by Scarlet Knight defenders, but on the third, Van Aalsum scored her second goal of the weekend, giving Iowa life once again.
Similar to Iowa’s start in the third quarter, Rutgers saw its own three consecutive penalty opportunities, with the third ending in yet another Scarlet Knights goal, putting Rutgers back on top, 3-2, with 10 minutes remaining for yet another Hawkeye comeback.
The comeback would come six minutes later with third-year Gia Whalen scoring her first goal of the season and tying the game for the Hawkeyes.
For the second game in a row this weekend, Iowa would head to overtime.
But fortunately for the Hawkeyes, this game ended only three minutes in, with fourth-year Milly Short finding the back of the net off of an Iowa penalty corner.
The Hawkeyes’ season record now sits at 9-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play after their East Coast swing.
Iowa returns to Grant Field next weekend, with two of its last three matchups being against Michigan State and Michigan. The Hawkeyes host the Spartans on Oct. 23 and the Wolverines on Oct. 26.