Hawkeyes Squeeze by Wright State, 1-0

Stats | Boxscore

Sep 8, 2013

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s soccer team edged Wright State, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Soccer Complex, improving the Hawkeyes’ record to 6-0 this season.

The only goal of the game came via the head of a Wright State player into her own net in the 66th minute, after junior Melanie Pickert launched a free kick into the box from 20 yards out.

“We have players that are very good in the box and in the air,” UI head coach Ron Rainey said. “We want to serve balls in dangerous spots. We’ll take (a goal) any way they’ll go in.”

The Hawkeyes out shot the Raiders, 18-4, unleashing shot-after-shot at Wright State goalkeeper Brooke McCurdy. Senior Ashley Catrell led the team with five shots, three of which were on goal. Cloe Lacasse shot four times with two on goal.

“Against a good goalkeeper, we have to be better in our attacking,” Rainey said. “We talked about pulling the ball away from the keeper, because we were hitting a lot of balls right at her hands today.”

Iowa picked up its fourth-consecutive shutout and fifth of the year, and have not allowed a goal in the last 380 minutes of play. The Hawkeyes, however, feel they did not play near their potential, despite their strong defensive output.

“It’s always good to post a shutout, but I think we’d all agree that we didn’t play how we wanted to today,” said junior Caitlin Brown. “This week in practice, we’re going to grind it out and work on all the things we need to improve upon.”

Sophomore Hannah Clark made three saves, all coming in the second half. The Raiders did not attempt a shot on goal in the first half, and only managed four throughout the entire game.

“As a team, and as a whole, we take a lot of pride in playing good defense (in front of Clark),” Brown said.

The Hawkeyes’ next match comes Friday against Saint Louis at the UI Soccer Complex beginning at 7 p.m. (CT).