Sept. 14, 2011
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s soccer team preserved it’s perfect record with a 2-0 win over Northern Iowa Wednesday night, improving to 8-0 on the season. The win also marks the ninth time the two teams have met on the soccer field, with Iowa taking all nine victories.
Early in the game, the Northern Iowa squad came out with speed and pressured the Iowa defense. The Hawkeyes had to adjust to protect the goal, but senior keeper Emily Moran gave direction to her back line, leading it to defend successfully.
“I think it was good for them to get some of those repetitions under pressure and for Emily to have to talk to her back line and the back line having to respond,” said Head Coach Ron Rainey. “It was nice to see that. I think the challenge now, as we head into Sunday, is to do all of those things at probably double the rate of speed against Illinois who is a very good team.”
The Hawkeyes have only allowed five goals through eight games this season, so the defensive play was somewhat unfamiliar. But, when sophomore duo Alex Melin and Leah DeMoss got the ball in the 25th minute of play, Iowa’s aggressive attack was brought to light. Melin served the ball ahead to DeMoss on the left side of the field. DeMoss dribbled around the defenders and drew UNI goalkeeper Erin Zaideman off of the goal line. The St. Charles, Ill. native, cut past the goalkeeper with her shot, burying it in the top right corner.
Iowa made two more attempts at the net prior to the half time break. Junior Dana Dalrymple got possession of the ball on the right side, trying for an off balance look at the target, but was blocked by a Panther defender. Late in the half Iowa earned a corner kick opportunity. Senior Morgan Showalter took the honors, sending the ball to the middle of the box, allowing classmate Sarah Langlas to get up for the header attempt. Langlas’ challenge was just wide of the net and the team went into the 15 minute break with a 1-0 lead.
Dalrymple pushed the ball up the field immediately after the whistle to start the second half. The Cincinnati, Ohio native, worked defenders out of their positions but got stopped on the right side just before the six-yard box. DeMoss regained control of the ball and hit the net at the 46:52 mark.
The Black and Gold maintained control of the ball for the remainder of the game with good touches and solid defense. Moran ticked all 90 minutes in goal, making four saves.
“Today, we wanted to cut out attacking chances for Northern Iowa, and I thought we did that pretty well” Rainey said. “The next step was to be a little bit more dynamic in the attacking third. So, we weren’t able to create as many chances in the passing game, but some of that has to be credited to Northern Iowa and how they defended us and what they were doing game plan wise.
“Overall I feel better about today’s game than I did about the game against South Dakota. I felt our mentality was good through the 90 minutes and I am really excited for Leah DeMoss scoring those two goals. Those were really good scoring chances and she put both of them away.”
The Hawkeyes host Illinois Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Soccer Complex in the Big Ten season opener for both teams. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.