Oct. 16, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The University of Iowa women’s soccer team fell to nationally ranked Penn State Sunday afternoon. The Hawkeyes (11-3-2, 3-3-2) allowed three second half goals by the No. 15 Lady Lions (14-3-0, 7-1-0) in the 4-0 decision.
During the first 45 minutes of play, the Hawkeyes fired seven shots towards the opposing goal. Six on goal challenges, but Penn State goalkeeper Erin McNulty made stops on each.
“In the first half, our possession was good,” Head Coach Ron Rainey said. “We had some good chances, but weren’t able to capitalize on them. After the first 45 minutes, we felt like it was still going to be a hard road, but we knew we did some nice things during that time.”
The home team scored late in the first half of play, sneaking one by senior goalkeeper Emily Moran. Maya Hayes collected a pass from teammate Emily Hurd and pushed it into the lower right corner of the goal. After the half time break, Penn State scored three times. Moran made one save.
“Today we were beaten by a better team,” Rainey said. “You have to give credit to Penn State. They made very few mental errors in attacking and defending, and that is something we have to get better at before we head out to Nebraska.”
Iowa faces Nebraska on the road on Oct. 20. Action in Lincoln is scheduled to kickoff at 4 p.m.