Oct. 29, 2011
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Iowa women’s soccer team shut out Wisconsin, 2-0, in Madison Saturday afternoon in its regular season finale. With the win, the Hawkeyes conclude the regular season with a 13-4-2 overall record, the best in program history, and a 5-4-2 mark in Big Ten play. In addition, Iowa’s 13 wins tie for the most in program history and the victory helped Iowa secure a spot in next week’s Big Ten Tournament.
Iowa finished tied for fifth in the Big Ten and will be the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, hosted by Northwestern.
“I am extremely proud of the team and how we battled today,” Rainey said. “If we can play every minute like we played during the second half, it will be great to see. The team battled for everything, played with confidence and played with passion, and that was awesome to see.”
Neither team was able to convert opportunities in the first 45-minute period, but shortly into the second period sophomore Leah DeMoss put one in and got the Hawkeyes on the board. In the 56th minute, DeMoss took aim from the right corner of the 18-yard box sending the ball into the lower left corner with force, beating Wisconsin goalkeeper Michele Dalton and tallying her eighth goal of the season.
“Leah worked the counter attack and did a great job of playing it past the goalkeeper,” head coach Ron Rainey said. “It was a good shot.”
With less than 10 minutes on the game clock, freshman Cloe Lacasse put pressure on in the box. Lacasse was taken down by a Badger and earned Iowa the penalty kick opportunity. The Hawkeyes looked to senior Morgan Showalter to put the game away with a conversion on the PK.
Anchoring the defense for Iowa was goalkeeper Emily Moran. The senior made three stops in the 35th win and the 19th shutout of her career. Iowa’s 13 regular season wins and five conference victories ties both school records set by the 1999 squad.
The Hawkeyes will return to Iowa City to prepare for the Big Ten Tournament. The tournament seeds and bracket will be released Sunday after all conference games have concluded.