Nov. 8, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – In the first round of the 2007 Big Ten Conference Tournament, the eighth-seeded University of Iowa soccer team fell to top-seeded Penn State 3-1 Thursday afternoon. Freshman Keli McLaughlin scored her first collegiate goal in the 60th minute to bring Iowa within one goal, but that proved to be as close as the Hawkeyes would get.
“We played extremely hard today,” Head Coach Ron Rainey said. “We are certainly disappointed with a loss but we did some good things well against a terrific opponent. Penn State deserves a lot of credit and they played today like the conference champions they are.”
Penn State senior Aubrey Aden-Buie, whose goal was the difference in Penn State’s regular-season 1-0 win against the Hawkeyes October 19, gave the Nittany Lions the early advantage in the 23rd minute. Shortly after halftime, Penn State’s Katie Schoepfer took a through-ball past the Iowa defense and netted her 13th goal of the season to increase the lead to 2-0.
Then McLaughlin, the speedy forward from Alsip, IL, took a well-placed pass from senior Kelsie Full and blasted a shot from 20 yards out to the far post to cut the lead to 2-1.
“It was a great shot,” Rainey said. “We created some attacking chances and a shot like that needed to be perfect against their goalkeeper. It was a huge shot for her and for our team.”
However, four minutes later, Penn State’s Danielle Toney scored a goal off a rebound in the 64th minute to give Penn State a 3-1 lead and the score would stay that way for the remainder of the match.
Freshman goalkeeper Kali Feiereisel returned to action Thursday and made six saves for the Hawkeyes, including four in the second period. Junior Stephanie Hyink led the Hawkeyes with four shots.
The Hawkeyes end the 2007 season with a record of 8-8-4, including a 4-6-0 mark in conference play.
The 2007 season was a memorable one in only Rainey’s second season at the helm of the Hawkeyes. This season marks the first time since 2002 that the Hawkeyes have finished with a record of .500 or better. Iowa’s four conference wins is the most the Hawkeyes have had in six seasons and the Hawkeyes also wrote their place in the University of Iowa record books earlier this season with a six-match winning streak.
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