WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – University of Iowa women’s soccer handled Purdue, 4-0, at Folk Field on Thursday night to earn its first conference victory this season. Iowa improves to 7-1-3 overall and 1-1-2 in Big Ten Conference play.

The Hawkeyes posted their eighth shutout this season, already the most for an Iowa team since 2019. Iowa has allowed just three goals through 11 contests (0.27 GAA), the fewest allowed by a Big Ten team this season.

Scoring came early and often in the first half, getting rolling in the 18^th minute when junior Kenzie Roling drilled her third goal of the year on a fastbreak pass from seventh-year player Josie Durr.

Roling threaded a fastbreak ball cross-field to the bottom left corner, earning a friendly bank off the bar to thwart the diving Purdue goalkeeper. Her 10 points lead the Hawkeyes offensively this season.

Four minutes later, senior captain Maggie Johnston put Iowa up, two-nil, on the second goal of her Iowa career. Johnston tapped in a free-kick ball dropped into the box by fellow captain Samantha Cary.

Iowa scored for a third time in the period on another free kick, this time on a first pass from midfield by freshman Eva Pattison, who launched the hockey pass to senior Kelli McGroarty at the top of the box.

McGroarty sent the ball forward on a header to set up sophomore Kellen Fife with a one-on-one look at the goalkeeper. Fife drilled the shot, giving Iowa its second set-piece score and a commanding, 3-0, lead heading into the break.

The Hawkeyes put up seven more shots in the second half, connecting for the final time with ten minutes left to play on a score from senior Rielee Fetty. The play marked a career-first goal for Fetty, as well as a career-first assist for freshman Sofia Bush.

Iowa outshot Purdue, 15-8, and tallied a 9-1 advantage in shots on goal. The 4-0 margin of victory is Iowa’s greatest against a Big Ten opponent since downing Nebraska by the same score on Oct. 16, 2022.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH DAVE DIIANNI

“I thought we were pretty opportunistic. We were pretty tight the last couple of weeks. We rank third in the country in goals against. We try to impress upon them to rely on good defending and working hard together. The goal opportunities will come. We scored two on set pieces, or at least reruns. We hadn’t done that yet this year. When you see the ball go in the back of the net once, you gain a little confidence. You saw momentum just kind of roll there, fortunately for us…

I am very proud of our team’s effort and resilience, coming on the road and playing in front of a big crowd. Our mentality to attack today for 90 minutes as a team was the difference in the game.”

HAWKEYE NOTABLES

• Goalkeeper Macy Enneking picked up her 17^th career shutout, ranking third in program history. Enneking ranks fifth in the Hawkeye record book with 20 career victories (.700 win percentage).
• The Hawkeyes earned their first win at Folk Field since 2017; the series against Purdue moves to 11-7-5 in favor of Iowa.
• Nine Hawkeyes registered offensive points.
• Both Johnston and Fife connected on their second career goals and first goals this season; Fetty’s goal was a career first.
• Thursday’s result makes the third contest this season in which Iowa has scored three or more goals.
• 2 for the Money: The Hawkeyes are undefeated in their last 43 games when scoring two goals or more. Dating back to the 2017 season, Iowa has a record of 40-0-3 when scoring two goals or more. That includes a 5-0-0 record this season, 4-0-2 in 2022, 9-0 in 2021, 2-0 in 2020, 13-0-1 in 2019 and 5-0 in 2018. The Hawkeyes won their final two games in 2017 when scoring two-plus goals. The last time Iowa lost a game while netting at least two goals was Oct. 1, 2017, at Michigan State (L, 3-2).
• 90 Tracker: Freshman Millie Greer (8) was the only Hawkeye to play the entirety of Thursday’s contest. The following position players have recorded at least one 90-minute outing this season: Samantha Cary (8), senior Rielee Fetty (4), senior Maggie Johnston (4), junior Kenzie Roling, sophomore Kellen Fife and freshman Eva Pattison. Nine substitutes checked in against Purdue.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return home on Oct. 1 to host Rutgers for the annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness. Kickoff is set for noon at the Iowa Soccer Complex.

The Board of Regents has approved the designs and budgets for a couple of sports projects at the University of Iowa. U-I vice president Rod Lehnertz explained the projects.

He says the project cost is 20 million dollars, and they would save 125-thousand dollars in other building costs.

The building would include space for coaches, athletic training/medical staff, locker rooms, a team room. equipment and a multi-purpose/viewing room. The U-I Spirit Squad consists of the Iowa Cheerleaders, the Iowa Dance Team and Herky the Hawk. Work would start this fall and take about one year to complete. The other project is an upgrade of the football performance center locker rooms that are 11 years old.

He says the two-point-five million dollar project will be funded by athletic department gifts and earnings.

Officials with the Bedford Community Schools report Stanton has forfeited the varsity football game for tonight (9/29). Elementary cheer camp and flag football will be postponed to a later date if possible. No reason was given for the change in the game plan.

Iowa’s offense looks to bounce back from an embarrassing performance when the Hawkeyes host Michigan State under the lights. Iowa suffered its first shutout in 23 years last week with a 31-0 loss at Penn State. The Hawkeyes managed only 20 yards of rushing and became a sitting duck for the Nittany Lion pass rush.

That’s senior guard Nick DeJong (young) who says Penn State had a lot to do with the offensive struggles.

Wide receivers were only target four times last week and senior Nico Ragaini says they are ready if called upon.

Ragaini says the receivers will do whatever it takes to win.

Drake coach Todd Stepsis hopes a difficult non-conference schedule pays dividends as the Bulldogs get set to open the Pioneer Football League race on Saturday (Sept. 30) afternoon at Morehead State of Kentucky. The Bulldogs are 0-3 after losses to FCS powers South Dakota State and North Dakota as well as a loss to defending NAIA champ Northwestern College.

The Bulldogs had a week off since the loss to South Dakota State and Stepsis says the bye week came at the right time.

Stepsis says the Drake offense will need to do its part by staying on the field against Morehead State.

Morehead State is 1-2 and opened the PFL race with a loss at St. Thomas of Minnesota. Kick-off Saturday in Kentucky, is at 1-p.m.

Class 1A second ranked Underwood is on the road to visit fifth ranked Treynor tonight (Friday night). The winner will be in the drivers seat in district eight.

That’s Treynor coach Jeff Casey. Underwood sophomore quarterback Garrett Luett (lut) and Treynor junior quarterback Ben Casey direct two of the top passing attacks in the state.

Both quarterbacks have a lot of weapons at their disposal.

Casey says Underwood has talent and big game experience.

Underwood coach Nate Mechaelsen (muh-kayl-suhn) hopes big game experience is a plus for his team.

Mechaelsen says there is a lot on the line.

The Atlantic boys cross country team finished sixth overall at the Southeast Polk XC Meet. Dallas Center-Grimes won the boys title with 27 points,  Waukee came in second, Southeast Polk third, Des Moines Roosevelt finished at fourth, and Ames in fifth. The top boys runner was Joseph Lawry from Waukee. Atlantic’s best runner was Devon Fields finishing at 25th. Closely following him was Alex Sonntag at 27th, Luke Irlmeier 32nd, Bennett Whetstone at 33rd, Rickie Fields 43rd, and Braden Spurr 44th.

Team Totals:

1 Dallas Center-Grimes 27

2 Waukee 55

3 Southeast Polk 82

4 Des Moines Roosevelt 97

5 Ames 147

For the Atlantic girls cross country team they came in ninth. Johnston would take first place with 62 points, Ankeny came in second, Waukee in third, Waukee Northwest in fourth, and Dowling Catholic in fifth. Olivia Verde from Johnston was the top runner on the day. Claire Pellet came in ninth for the Trojans. Belle Berg was 51st, Katrina Williams 55th, Makenna Schroeder 68th. Towards the end a trio of runners from Atlantic came in together, Ella Brummer 74th,  Faith Altman 75th, and Mariah Huffman 76th.

1 Johnston 62

2 Ankeny 77

3 Waukee 90

4 Waukee Northwest 107

5 Dowling Catholic 111

Hawkeye Ten Conference:

Harlan 3-Atlantic 1 (25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16)
Red Oak 3-Creston 0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-15)
Lewis Central 3-Kuemper Catholic 1 (25-18, 15-25, 25-15, 30-28)

Western Iowa Conference:

AHSTW 3-IKM-Manning 0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-23)
Tri-Center 3-Riverside 0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-23)
Underwood 3-Logan-Magnolia 0 (26-24, 25-6, 25-14)
Treynor 3-Missouri Valley 0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-9)

Rolling Valley Conference:

CAM 3-West Harrison 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-19)
Exira-EHK 3-Ar-We-Va 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-10)
Woodbine 3-Coon Rapids-Bayard 0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-11)

Corner Conference:

Championship: Stanton 3-Sidney 1 (24-26, 25-18, 26-14, 25-15)
3rd Place: East Mills 3-Griswold 1 (19-25, 25-16, 26-28, 14-25)

Pride of Iowa Conference:

Earlham 2-East Union 1 (24-26, 25-13, 15-12)
Lenox 2-Earlham 0 (25-17, 26-24)
Lenox 2-East Union 0 (25-16, 25-23)
Wayne 3-Chariton 2 (22-25, 31-29, 23-25, 20-25, 15-10)

West Central Conference:

ACGC 3-Madrid 0 (25-9, 25-10, 25-12)
Earlham 2-East Union 1 (24-26, 25-13, 15-12)
Lenox 2-Earlham 0 (25-17, 26-24)
Pleasantville 2-Grand View Christian 0 (25-16, 25-22)
Pleasantville 2-Panorama 0 (25-18, 25-11)
Pleasantville 2-Woodward-Granger 0 (25-23, 25-15)
Southeast Valley 3-Ogden 0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-13)

Raccoon River Conference:

ADM 3-North Polk 0 (27-25, 25-19, 25-23)