No. 7 Hawkeyes Defeat No. 18 Michigan State, 5-3

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The No. 7 University of Iowa women’s soccer team defeated No. 18 Michigan State, 5-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Iowa Soccer Complex. The Hawkeyes move to 10-2-3 on the season and 5-1-2 in Big Ten Conference play.

Michigan State struck first with Emerson Sargeant finding the net in the 15th minute to give the Spartans the early lead.

Freshman Liana Tarasco would respond in the 28th minute to tie the match up. Junior Sofia Bush was credited for the assist.

Graduate student Kelli McGroarty would find the net for the second straight game to give Iowa a 2-1, advantage in the 37th minute. Fellow graduate student Eileen Solomon was credited for the assist.

At the half, both teams fired seven shots while Iowa put four on goal to Michigan State’s two. Graduate student Kenzie Roling led all players with three shots at the break. 

The two teams combined to take 10 corner kicks in the first half as Iowa led, 2-1.

Michigan State’s Sofia Beerworth would tie the game just one minute into the second half. However, it wouldn’t take long for Iowa to respond as sophomore goalkeeper Fernanda Mayrink would convert on a penalty kick after freshman Elle Wildman was fouled in the box to give Iowa the lead again. 

Maggie Illig of Michigan State would respond in less than a minute to tie the match up again at 3-3. Wildman would then convert on a goal in the 66th minute to give the Hawkeyes a 4-3, lead that they would protect for the rest of the match.

Sophomore Berkley Binggeli delivered the dagger in the 89th minute to give Iowa a two-goal cushion as they led, 5-3.

The Hawkeyes would hold on to win behind their three second half goals.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH DAVE DIIANNI
“The way Michigan State plays they put so much pressure on you and commit so many numbers forward. One aspect of it is you have to be able to handle that pressure and the other aspect of it is you have to counterpunch. We talked a lot about having to counterpunch, and that’s what we did. I thought we took on a lot of direct play and a lot of pressure from them.”

MATCH NOTES

• The Hawkeyes now hold second place in the Big Ten standings.
• It marks the second time this season Iowa has had a game scoring at least five goals. The last time they did that twice in the same season was 2017.
• The 8 combined goals between the two teams marks the most goals in a game since Aug. 31, 2017, when Iowa defeated Southern Utah, 8-1.
  • It is the most combined goals in a Big Ten game for the Hawkeyes since Oct. 23, 2015, when they fell to Nebraska, 3-5, 
• Bush is up to six assists on the season. She is one assist away from moving to fifth in program history for assists in a single season. The program record for assists in a season is nine set by four different players.
• The Hawkeyes have now won two straight over Michigan State. The five goals scored by Iowa marks the most by either team in the series.
• Iowa is 2-2 on the season against ranked opponents. 
• 2 for the Money:Iowa’s record is 63-3-3 in its last 69 games when scoring two goals or more which dates back to October 2017.
• 90 Tracker:Sofia Bush, Miah Schueller, Millie Greer, and Abby Skiff were the four Hawkeye position players to register 90 minutes. 18 Hawkeyes played in the match.
  • Greer has played the full 90 minutes in 14 of 15 matches. She leads Iowa with 1,297 minutes on the season.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes travel to Los Angeles where they take on UCLA. The match is set for Oct. 16 and will start at 8 p.m. (CT) while being streamed live on B1G+ (subscription required).