Hawkeyes Blank Northwestern, 1-0

 

Sept. 14, 2014

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Sophomore Corey Burns’ first career goal sent the University of Iowa soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Northwestern on Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Soccer Complex. The win gives the Hawkeyes a 2-0 record in Big Ten play for the first time since 2007.

“Wins aren’t easy to come by in the Big Ten and today was a good indication of that,” said UI head coach Dave DiIanni. “We came out a little flat today. I was happy with how we defended in the first half, but we have to be a lot better on the ball.”

The Hawkeyes lone goal came in rare form when Burns fired a corner kick that bent its way around Northwestern defenders before finding its way into the back of the net. Burns’ goal was all Iowa needed as the Hawkeye defense did their part to hold the Wildcats scoreless.

“Corey takes a lot of time to practice her set pieces,” said DiIanni. “That was a good bend of the ball with a little breeze.”

Iowa had an opportunity to go up 2-0 in the 75th minute when Emily Scott was fouled by Northwestern’s Margo McGinty at the top of the box, but Melanie Pickert’s free kick sailed just above the crossbar.

Junior Hannah Clark tallied three saves on the day, including a diving stop in the second half while on the way to her third consecutive shutout, which pushes her into second place in school history with 14 career shutouts. Clark needs one more shutout to tie Emily Moran for the most all-time at Iowa.

Iowa (7-1-0, 2-0-0) travels to Minnesota for a matchup with the Golden Gophers (4-4-0, 1-1-0) on Sept. 20. The contest is slated to begin at 7 p.m. (CT). ?