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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Northwestern’s Danika Austin scored a golden goal in the 96th minute, sending Northwestern to a 2-1 overtime victory over the 25th-ranked University of Iowa soccer team Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Soccer Complex.
The loss is Iowa’s first at home since Oct. 21, 2017, snapping a streak of 16 consecutive home wins or draws. The Hawkeyes fall to 10-2-0, 2-2-0 in Big Ten play.
After playing to a 1-1 draw in overtime, Austin collected a cross from Kylie Fisher and finished in traffic to give the Wildcats the victory. It came on Northwestern’s seventh shot of the game.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 3-0 minute when Reilly Riggs scored off a corner kick. Eight minutes later, sophomore Hailey Rydberg tied the game with her first strike of the season.
Rydberg corralled a loose ball in the box and fired it into the bottom left corner past Mackenzie Wood, tying the game at one. It was the only goal Wood surrendered; she made eight saves and faced 25 shots in the game.
Iowa goalkeeper Claire Graves made two saves in the contest.
HEAD COACH DAVE DIIANNI SAYS…
“Credit to Northwestern, that’s exactly the team we thought was going to come in. They are well-coached and defend well. I did not like our mentality to start the game, but our subs did a great job in the first half, not only getting a goal back, but bringing energy in the attack.
“We missed some good chances to win the game. We gave up two corner kick goals and that is unfortunate. We need to be better at defending in the width, so we are not giving those away as cheaply as we did.
“As much as we got some momentum back, I never felt like we had control of the game and that was evident with some of our missed chances in the box to win the game when we had a chance in the second half.”
OF NOTE
– The Hawkeyes out-shot Northwestern, 25-7, in the game.
– The loss is Iowa’s first in seven games this season (6-1-0) and the Hawkeyes are 13-1-3 in their last 17 home games dating back to last season.
– The game was Iowa’s first overtime contest of the season.
– Defenders Riley Whitaker and Sara Wheaton played all 97 minutes in the contest.
NEXT UP
The Hawkeyes return to action Thursday, hosting Nebraska at 7 p.m. (CT) at the Iowa Soccer Complex. Admission is free.
