Oct. 14, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The University of Iowa women’s soccer team downed the Ohio State Buckeyes Friday night in Columbus with a 1-0 decision in regulation. The Hawkeyes beat the Buckeyes for the first time since 2007, improving to 11-2-2 on the season and 3-2-2 in conference play.
“This win was big,” Head Coach Ron Rainey said. “Ohio State is an athletic, organized team. They came out and put us under a lot of pressure.”
On a cool and breezy night in Columbus, Ohio, the Iowa women’s soccer defense may have earned an edge from Mother Nature in cooling the Ohio State Buckeyes’ offense, finishing off a 1-0 win on the strength of an Alex Melin goal in 56th minute.
A stout defensive effort went back and forth for the opening half, between the 8-6-1 (3-3-1 Big Ten) Buckeyes and the 11-2-1 (3-2-2 Big Ten) Hawkeyes before Iowa took the advantage early in the second half.
Senior goalkeeper Emily Moran was tested early and often, facing four shot attempts in the first 11 minutes. For the contest, the Kent, Ohio, native stopped four on goal shots to keep the Buckeyes off the board.
The early going was tough on the Hawkeyes, with sophomore Alex Melin hitting the post in the 14th minute. Senior Alyssa Cosnek and freshman Cloe Lacasse each earned early shots, but neither attempt was on goal.
Neither the Hawkeyes nor the Buckeyes earned an advantage during the early stages of the final 20 minutes until the Iowa’s Melin connected on a set piece from Morgan Showalter to give the Hawkeyes a lead they would not relinquish.
“The goal was came off a corner kick,” Rainey added. “It was a really nice goal, especially neat because Morgan and Alex have been working on those for the past couple weeks. It was a perfect header from a corner kick.”
Moran was again tested in the final four minutes as Ohio State fired off four shots in the waning moments.
“We absorbed it well and felt comfortable attacking them, which can be seen with the number of corner kicks we were able to get,” Rainey said. “We did a great job of creating chances. We did really well absorbing pressure at the end of the game. The back line stayed marked with people, clearing balls the last ten minutes when OSU was pressing to tie game. “
Iowa will be back in action when they travel eastward to University Park, Pa., to face the 15th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in an 11. a.m. CT contest from Happy Valley.