No. 3 Hawkeye soccer took care of business in front of a lively and passionate home crowd, defeating No. 14 Missouri State, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
After a tumultuous end to the season, including a first-round exit from the Big Ten Tournament, the Hawkeyes are back rolling. They will patiently wait for the conclusion of Georgetown and Fairfield on Saturday to see who their next opponent will be.
The first time the Hawkeyes and Bears matched up was 19 years ago in 2005, with neither team prevailing after two overtimes resulted in a 1-1 tie.
Missouri State earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament after going an impressive 9-0-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference — leading to the program’s first-ever conference regular season title.
It did not take long for the Iowa offense to catch fire, with fourth-year forward Meike Ingles using her quick and shifty style of play to put herself just enough ahead of Bears defenders to score for the Hawkeyes at the 22-minute mark.
Ingles’ clutch and timely goal marked her sixth of the season and propelled Iowa to a 1-0 lead. Teammate Kenzie Roling was credited with the precise cross-field assist — her fifth of the season.
“Big games require big players to step forward to win. I thought we had that in Kenzie — [she was] excellent,” head coach Dave DiIanni said. “Meike Ingles is playing like one of the best players in the Big Ten as well.”
The high-powered Hawkeye offense was on display under the lights — keeping Bear defenders on their toes throughout the entirety of the game.
Despite allowing a goal in the first period, the Bears’ defensive ability was definitely prevalent on the pitch, making saves and not allowing anything to get out of hand. So Iowa walked into the locker room at halftime with a narrow 1-0 lead against Missouri State.
Iowa’s offense continued to bring challenges for the Bear defenders, though, with Hawkeye graduate-student defender Maggie Johnston putting her body on the line to score off of a header from teammate Lauren Geczik.
Johnston’s goal came as she lurked in the box, patiently waiting in the lower half for the right opportunity to strike. The opportunity arose after a perfect loft pass from Geczik on the right side.
This “heads up” play from Johnston marked her third goal of the year and moved Geczik’s assist total to four on the season.
Missouri State’s lone goal of the night came late in the second-half by Jenna Anderson — after a miscue from goalkeeper Macy Enneking and Berkley Binggeli in the box allowed for her to score with ease.
Despite the Bears’ last-second push in the second period, it was not enough to defeat the Hawkeyes — with Iowa prevailing in the end, 2-1.
Defensively, Enneking was unable to show much to the Iowa crowd, but that’s a good thing as she allowed one goal and recorded two saves on the night.
Statistically, Iowa dominated offensively, controlling the field and recording a total of 28 shots on the night compared to Missouri State’s dismal seven.
DiIanni was overall very pleased with his teams’ efforts.
“I thought we played quite well — I thought we started off in a good place mentally; we wanted them to play loose and aggressive and fast,” DiIanni said. “I think that we were aggressive offensively and defensively in transition.”
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