Nov. 6, 2004
EVANSTON, IL – The University of Iowa field hockey team advanced to the 2004 Big Ten Tournament Championship with a 1-0 overtime win against the Michgian State Spartans Saturday. The Hawkeyes will face off against top-seeded Michigan Sunday at 1 p.m.
Just 4:23 into overtime, freshman Caroline Blaum struck again with her second-straight overtime game-winning goal. On a Hawkeye penalty corner, sophomore Heather Schnepf threw a pass over to Blaum, who beat second team all-Big Ten goalkeeper Christina Kirkaldy for the win.
Blaum is the second Hawkeye player to score back-to-back game-winning goals in Big Ten Tournament play. Pattie Gillern pulled the feat in 2002.
The game was a hard-fought defensive battle from the get-go, with both teams coming up big to stop quality scoring chances.
The Spartans had two apparent game-winning goals waved off by the officials. Just over five minutes into the game, a Spartan shot found the back of the cage but the umpires ruled the shot was taken outside the attack circle. In the final ten minutes of the second half, the Spartans beat first team all-Big Ten goalkeeper Barb Weinberg, but only after a whistle awarding a Michgian State penalty corner had been blown. The Spartans came up short on the corner and the game remained scoreless.
Both defenses held the rest of the way, sending Iowa into it’s school record seventh overtime game. The Hawkeyes are 5-2 in overtime this season, also a school record.
Weinberg made nine saves on the day, as the Spartans out-shot Iowa 14-9. Penalty corners were about even, with Michigan State earning 10 to Iowa’s nine.
The championship game with Michigan is a rematch of the 1999 Big Ten Tournament Championship game, which Michigan won 2-1. Iowa defeated the Wolverines, 4-3 in overtime, earlier this season.