No. 11 Iowa Clipped in B1G Semifinals

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Nov. 2, 2012

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — A 54th minute goal led top-seeded and No. 4 Penn State to a 3-2 victory over the 11th-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team on Friday afternoon in a tightly-contested semifinal game at the 2012 Big Ten Tournament.

“We showed up,” said UI head coach Tracey Griesbaum. “This is how this team can play. Today we tightened things up defensively and had some opportunities inside our 25. I thought the heart we displayed and the athleticism on the field was great. It stinks when we are hosting the tournament, and we’re not in the finals. It hurts a lot.”

The Nittany Lions’ Kelsey Amy scored the game-winning goal off a penalty corner at the 53:24 mark. Whitney Reddig pushed the ball to Amy, who ripped the shot into the lower left hand corner of the cage to give Penn State the 3-2 advantage.

After going into the half tied at one, Penn State grabbed the 2-1 lead just 43 seconds into the second period. Taylor Herold deflected a pass from Brittany Grzywacz and into the back of the net at the 45:43 mark to notch her second goal of the game.

Iowa answered in the 49th minute, courtesy of senior Jessica Barnett’s ninth goal of the season. Sophomore Dani Hemeon sent a shot toward the cage off a penalty corner, and it caromed off Penn State goalkeeper Ayla Halus. Barnett was in the right place, corralling the ball and firing the equalizer off the rebound, making the score 2-2.

Penn State grabbed the first half lead, scoring the game’s first goal at the 11:12 mark. Herold took a pass from Kelsey and deflected it past Iowa goalkeeper Kathleen McGraw for the goal.

The Hawkeyes tied the score at the 24:03 mark when sophomore Dani Hemeon netted her team-leading 10th goal of the season. Junior Marike Stribos fired from the top of the circle, and Hemeon got a touch on the ball, deflecting it into the lower left corner.

Statistically, the game was evenly-contested. Penn State held the 10-9 advantage in shots, while Iowa had six penalty corners to the Nittany Lions’ five.

Halus picked up her 16th victory in goal, making a pair of saves in 70 minutes. McGraw made one stop in falling to 14-6 on the season.

The Hawkeyes will await word on its NCAA fate, as the brackets will be released Tuesday evening.

“We have to get our mentality set that we’re playing, when we’re not sure until Tuesday night,” said Griesbaum. “We can’t allow our self to check out. We’re practicing, recovering and training like we’re playing next week. This is the kind of team I wish the committee could see because we played with the fourth-ranked team in the country.”