Oct. 11, 2015
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A pair of goals in the second half were enough to give No. 14 Minnesota a 2-0 victory over the University of Iowa soccer team Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Soccer Complex.
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“Outside of having more possession than we have had in the past, the game was similar to the rest of our Big Ten games,” said UI head coach Dave DiIanni. “We competed for 90 minutes straight for each other and worked hard. We have been good defensively and we created enough opportunities to score, but I think like some of our other games, the margin for error is too small.”
After playing to a scoreless tie in the first half, the Hawkeyes came out with a vengeance early in the second half with junior Bri Toelle and freshman Chelsey Henry both firing shots at Minnesota goalkeeper Tarah Hobbs in the first five minutes. The Gophers answered, firing five shots at Iowa goalkeeper Hannah Clark in the first 10 minutes.
Minnesota got on the board at the 56-minute mark when Simone Kolander was able to secure a pass from April Bockin to score her 10th goal of the season.
Freshman Alina Magruder had an opportunity to net the equalizer in the 61st minute after beating out Minnesota defenders on a breakaway for a 1-on-1 with the Gopher goalkeeper, but her shot hit the cross bar.
With 3:52 left in the game, Minnesota’s Taylor Stainbrook managed to sneak the ball past Clark off a cross from teammate Josee Stiever to put the Gophers up, 2-0.
Minnesota finished with a 24-7 advantage in shots for the game with 14 being on goal. Fourteen of the 24 attempts came over the final 45 minutes. Clark finished with a season high 12 saves in 90 minutes of action.
“Our kids fight very hard and we are getting better in lots of areas, we just aren’t able to score right now,” said DiIanni. “I think we are making it very difficult to play against teams and they told us that earlier. We are tough to break down and we compete for 90 minutes.
“That’s character and that is going to be a great foundation for us, not only for now but for the future. We need to start making progress and capitalizing on opportunities.”
The Hawkeyes (6-7-1, 0-6-1) hit the road for the final two road games of the season, beginning with an Oct. 15 matchup at Illinois.
“Today wasn’t our day but we are going to go back at it on Thursday and go after Illinois and then go after Northwestern,” said DiIanni. “What has to be consistent for us here on out is our work rate.”
