Hawkeyes make the most of Nebraska mistakes, win Big Ten opener
A rivalry matchup in any sport tends to have a bit more juice to it. On Thursday night at the UI Soccer Complex there was plenty of juice with Iowa and Nebraska coming together on the soccer pitch for each teams Big Ten opener.
It pitted the reigning Big Ten regular season champion Huskers against a Hawkeyes team that’s looking to make a run at a championship of their own this season. An opportunistic goal from Sofia Bush gave Iowa the lead in the second half, while a late insurance goal from Meike Ingles put the game away. The Hawkeyes earned their fifth straight shutout and picked up a 2-0 victory. It marks five wins in their last seven meetings against Nebraska.
“It was a typical border war,” said head coach Dave Dilanni. “The styles (of play) are very, very different and I think it’s very difficult to play against their style…I actually thought it was a pretty just result.”
The Hawkeyes got off to a good start in the first half, getting balls in to open areas and creating chances, with a prime scoring opportunity materializing in the 18th minute. Meike Ingles found some open space out wide and sent a brilliant cross into the box for Kenzie Roling, but Nebraska was able to escape danger, forcing a corner kick.
Later in the 33rd minute it was Lauren Geczik setting up a scoring chance with a ball into the box. Sofia Bush came out of nowhere and sent a header off the crossbar and harmlessly out of play. The Hawkeyes controlled play for the majority the opening 45 minutes, outshooting the Huskers 8-3. Although Dave Dilanni thought his team could have broken through, he liked what he saw from his group.
“It’s difficult to play against their style. 4-2-4, balls in the air a lot, and I think we prefer to be on the ground,” said Dilanni. “I thought we did a good job finding the weak side players and then getting the ball out wide to the wing backs…I thought we did a great job of handling some pressure, playing against it and getting the ball to people like Kenzie Roling, Meike Ingles and Lauren Geczik.”
“I thought at the back end of the first half we stopped doing that, and then we got countered a lot. The beginning of the second half we stopped doing that.”
Out of the halftime break, it was Nebraska that jumped out on the front foot and pressured the Hawkeyes defense. In the 61st minute it was Huskers star forward Sarah Weber with a near chance. She sent a hard shot along the ground towards the far post, but GK Macy Enneking was able to make a diving save to keep things scoreless. Iowa weathered the Nebraska storm and was finally able to break through with a goal in the 65th minute.
A quick Iowa throw in got the ball to the edge of the box. It appeared the chance was over, with Husker defender Reese Borer controlling possession of the ball, but she rolled a halfhazard pass back towards GK Cece Villa. Sofia Bush was able to slash in, steal the pass, evade Villa and slot home a goal to break the 0-0 tie.
“I think (it’s about) just being calm and really not thinking about it too much,” said Sofia Bush on how she was able to capitalize on the Nebraska error. “We’re super gritty, we’re competitive and we play for each other. It’s just what we do here at Iowa.”
“It showed our mental strength and our ability to physically battle a little bit,” said Dilanni. “Nebraska breaks you with that (pressure) if you allow them to. They scored three goals in ten minutes last year against us, so they can get on you really fast.”
In the 81st minute, the Hawkeyes got the knockout blow. Meike Ingles got the ball in on a transition break and took advantage of Nebraska keeper Cece Villa being miles off her line. Ingles floated a 30+ yard shot into the net to make it 2-0 in the dying embers of the match.
“We told (the team) the goalkeeper was going to be out like that and she’s going to be a little bit sloppy with her spacing,” said Dilanni. “So to do that, that was great.”
“You have to have some goals that are maybe just straight out of grit and grinding, and we’ll take that in a heartbeat. We’ve missed some really good chances this year, so we’ll take some of those. Got to be a bit lucky.”
In the end, the Hawkeyes and Huskers were even in shots, 13-13, but Dave Dilanni’s squad held a 7-6 advantage in shots on goal and took advantage of two opportunistic chances. Iowa has now won 48 of their last 53 games when scoring 2+ goals. The rivalry weekend continues on Sunday when they travel to Ames for a Cy-Hawk Series matchup.
“We take a lot of pride in the Cy-Hawk Series and we want to be the first to help our school out and get points for us.”
Up Next: The Hawkeyes travel west to Ames for a Cy-Hawk matchup against Iowa State on Sunday afternoon. Kickoff is set for 1:00pm CT on ESPN+.
