Aug. 23, 2008
IOWA CITY, IA – The University of Iowa soccer team opened the 2008 campaign with a dominant 4-0 victory over in-state rival Drake Saturday at the UI Soccer Complex. The win over Drake was Iowa’s fourth all-time (4-0-0) and marked the first season-opening win since defeating UW-Green Bay in 2002.
“It was a great way to get our season started,” said Head Coach Ron Rainey. “Our kids attacked well tonight and really came out and played a great first match.”
Celebrating her 19th birthday, freshman Alyssa Cosnek got the scoring started nine minutes into the match when she made a shifty move past Drake goalkeeper Jenny Schroeder for her first collegiate goal. 11 minutes later, Cosnek struck again, scoring on a perfectly-placed cross off the left side from freshman Morgan Showalter. In the 30th minute, another freshman, Sarah Langlas, took a cross from Kelsey Sandon and skipped it past Schroeder for the Hawkeyes’ third goal of the period. Sophomore forward Keli McLaughlin capped the scoring off in the 65th minute to stake the Hawkeyes to a 4-0 lead.
All nine freshmen saw the field for the Hawkeyes during the match. Showalter, the former Cedar Rapids (Xavier) product, tallied three assists while Sandon was credited with one. Senior Kelsey Shaw also was credited with an assist.
“The freshmen were huge for us tonight,” said senior forward Stephanie Hyink. “In their first collegiate match, they really got us going offensively. That’s definitely a positive sign.”
The Hawkeyes bombarded the Drake defense on their way to 20 shots, 11 of which were shots-on-goal. The defense played equally as well, allowing only five Drake shots. Sophomore Kali Feiereisel started the match for Iowa and made three saves until giving way to freshman Emily Moran, who played the entire second half.
Over 700 fans came out to watch the Hawkeyes and Bulldogs, making it one of the biggest attendance turnouts for a match in school history.
“We’ve got a lot to work on,” said Rainey. “The results tonight were very encouraging, but we’ll have to come back next week and prepare for two tough opponents.”
Iowa returns to action Friday against Western Illinois. Match-time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Iowa 4, Drake 0
Shots
Iowa 20, Drake 5
Corners
Iowa 2, Drake 0
Fouls
Iowa 17, Drake 9
Saves
Drake 7, Iowa 3