The University of Iowa women’s soccer team dropped its home opener to Kansas, 1-0, on Thursday night at the Iowa Soccer Complex.
The Hawkeyes had opportunities, taking 13 shots, including nine in the second half. Senior Hailey Rydberg led the way, putting up five shots including three on goal. Still, it was Kansas’ Shira Elinav who struck first in the 52nd minute with what ultimately proved to be the game-winner.
Senior Josie Durr fired a valiant shot to the bottom right corner in the 66th minute, but a diving save by Jayhawk goalkeeper Melania Pasar maintained the Kansas lead.
Iowa goalkeeper Monica Wilhelm came up with five saves on 15 total shots by the Jayhawks.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH DAVE DIIANNI
“I thought that we were slow to start. Unfortunately, we asked them to be a bit brave with the ball and we knew that turnovers were going to result in some transition play. We turned the ball over a lot, in the first half in particular. Even though it got better in the second half, it was still a theme. When you play a team that plays with two attacking midfielders and two forwards, and you give the ball away a lot in the middle on one touch balls, you are going to struggle. But I thought we played pretty hard in the second half. I thought we committed numbers forward. We were better with the ball. Just not much quality for us right now in the box. Honestly, we are just missing too much talent on the sidelines right now.”
HAWKEYE NOTABLES
- 90 TRACKER: Sara Wheaton (3), Brooklyn Woods (3), Josie Durr, and Rielee Fetty played the entirety of Thursday’s match. Rydberg is the only other Hawkeye to have registered 90 minutes in a match this season.
NEXT UP
Iowa hosts DePaul on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT).
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up