IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Cyclone soccer program suffered its first setback of the season on Thursday evening, falling to in-state rival Iowa, 2-1, at the Iowa Soccer Complex. With the win, Iowa takes a 2-0 lead in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.

Iowa State (2-1-0) was held scoreless until the final ten minutes of action, as the Iowa defense stifled most of ISU’s offensive attack on the night. Iowa (3-0-0) used a late first-half goal, paired with an early second-half goal, to get an edge over the Cyclones.

The first half saw each team record a handful of shots, five for Iowa and two for Iowa State, but with nothing doing as neither team was able to find the back of the net. The Hawkeyes finally broke through in the 34th minute as Kenzie Roling snuck one past Avery Gillahan off a Shae Doherty feed to put the Hawks on top.

Iowa took its 1-0 lead into the break and both teams came out of the half with the same mentality – hunt more shots.

The Hawkeyes tallied 12 in the second stanza and the Cyclones seven as each team started to push the pace and play with more urgency. Iowa’s energy out of the gate resulted in an early second-half goal from Elle Otto and the Hawks took a 2-0 lead.

After an early setback, Iowa State kept trying its luck on the Hawkeye defense, eventually putting a score on the board in the 82nd minute as Lauren Hernandez snagged her first goal of the 2023 season off an Olivia Edwards free kick.

The Cyclones would threaten down to the wire, seeing a cross fall just short of connecting in the final seconds of action as ISU dropped its first action of the year.

Fannon’s Thoughts 

“It’s difficult to be in a situation where you’re on the front foot and the aggressor. Their goal early in the second half kind of knocked the wind out of us. The part I took away from tonight is that when the match was at its hardest, we stepped up and got as close as possible in literally the last seconds.”

Goals 

Iowa State: Lauren Hernandez (82′)

Iowa: Kenzie Roling (34’), Elle Otto (48’) 

Assists 

Iowa State: Olivia Edwards 

Iowa: Shae Doherty 

Up Next
The Cyclones will return to the pitch this Sunday when they travel to Brookings, South Dakota, to take on the SDSU Jackrabbits. ISU and South Dakota State’s Sunday match is set to kick off at 1 p.m. and the action will be streamed on the Summit League Network.