Nov. 7, 2003
State College, PA – The 13th-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team was defeated by No. 7 Penn State, 3-1, Friday in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The loss eliminates the Hawkeyes from the conference tournament, while Penn State will advance to play top-seeded Michigan tomorrow at 11 a.m. (EST).
The Hawkeyes fell to 11-8, while Penn State upped its record to 15-5.
Penn State came flying out of the gates and put the Hawkeyes on their heels by out-shooting them 6-0 in the first half. The Nittany Lions got on the board first when Michele Rigby stole a pass at midfield and came in one-on-one with Iowa goalkeeper Barb Weinberg, deking twice before sliding the ball to the back of the cage.
Amanda Eckert gave Penn State a 2-0 halftime lead off a crossing pass from Karin Grap at 31:07 of the first half. The Nittany Lions upped their lead to 3-0 less than a minute into the second half with a goal from Grap.
The Hawkeyes got on the board at the 56:01 mark when Heather Schnepf pounded home a rebound on a penalty corner. Schnepf took the initial shot on the corner, which bounced off goalkeeper Annie Zinkavich’s pads right back to her stick, where she buried her second shot. It was Schnepf’s fourth goal of the season.
Iowa will now await the NCAA Selection Show Tuesday night to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.