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Iowa Soccer dominates Maryland, earns a 2-0 shutout win

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann10/10/25HuesmannKyle
(Photo by Stephen Mally/UI Athletics)
(Photo by Stephen Mally/UI Athletics)

Dave Dilanni felt like this was a must win for his team. He thought his team had given away a couple of points in the table last week with a draw at home against Michigan. Still in the Big Ten regular season title race, the Hawkeyes needed to put a win on the board on Thursday night to keep pace. They did just that, putting a season-high 27 shots in a dominant 2-0 win over Maryland to move to 9-2-3 (4-1-2) on the season. They sit just three points behind Washington who is atop the table.

“27 shots is something that no one’s done against Maryland, and they can be difficult to score against, so I thought that was really great,” said head coach Dave Dilanni. “It was an important win with a big three game stretch coming up.”

The Hawkeyes took control of the match from the opening kick, earning five corner kicks within the first 20 minutes. Despite earning those corner kicks, none of them yielded an opening goal and Maryland was nearly able to steal an early goal with little possession.

In the 25th minute, a foul on Abby Skiff set the Terps up with a dangerous free kick just outside of the penalty arc atop the box. Leading goal scorer Ava Morales took the kick, trying to bend one from left to right, but it hit the crossbar and went out of play for a near miss.

Later, in the 34th minute, with seven shot attempts and five corner kicks already tallied without a goal, the Hawkeyes finally broke through. It started as a nothing ball, with several headers ping-ponging around the Iowa half, but a poor touch by a Maryland defender on a header from Abby Skiff acted as a through ball for Kenzie Roling. She ran onto it and finished with a shot at the far post to give Iowa the 1-0 lead.

“We haven’t got on the end of those balls very often. Kenzie’s had a really good last couple games, and to see her get rewarded, and it was a really nice finish,” said Dilanni. “That’s her. Ball pops out. She’s a good, clean player, technical player and it was a nice finish. We probably missed two or three chances prior to that.”

In the second half, the pressure never let up with the Iowa attack. They continued to play on the front foot, pushing for second goal and for a while, the Terps defense held up. Goalkeeper Faith Luckey made an impressive save on a Sofia Bush shot attempt in the 50th minute and then again on a shot attempt from Shae Doherty in the 54th minute to keep the 1-0 score intact.

“For us, it’s about the quality and the volume (of the chances). We’ve talked a lot about volume and putting balls in spaces that we want to, need to, to be successful in an attack,” said Dilanni. “Even Kenzie’s goal, the ball got played in and then it didn’t get cleared, and we get on the end of it. When you put volume in, it’s very difficult to defend for 90 minutes. I loved our mentality.”

That mentality finally paid off in the 75th minute. Still just a single Maryland moment from a 1-1 game, the Hawkeyes gave themselves a much-needed cushion with under a quarter hour left to play.

Sofia Bush had an assist taken off the board in the first half after a VAR check took away a Kenzie Roling goal, but she wouldn’t be denied. She attacked the right side of the box and sent a perfectly placed ball in front of goal where Kelli McGroarty slashed in, finishing with a header to make it 2-0 Hawkeyes.

“Sofia Bush and I locked eye contact for about two seconds, which in the game of soccer is a lot of time,” said McGroarty. “I just had my hand up where I wanted the ball, and as Berkley Binggeli would say, she put a dime on a platter or something.”

“Honestly, just grateful to not be playing in pain again. Last year wasn’t the season I personally wanted, just with my injury, so just to be back on the field and being able to play my game and not worry about injury is the thing I’m most grateful for.”

McGroarty, the grad senior, holds the team lead with five goals after appearing in just two games last season. She said her 75th minute goal to go up 2-0 was very important for a couple of reasons.

“We were getting so many shots on goal and to put another one (on the board), kind of seals the deal, and then obviously the safety layer that you have with two goals.”

“We’ve been having a lot of backs scoring, holding mids off set pieces, so (the coaches) challenged our attacking players to see if we can put one in the net and we were able to do that with Kenzie and I scoring.”

As if a 2-0 victory to keep pace near the top of the table wasn’t enough, sophomore Berit Parten made her season-debut, logging 19 minutes. A lower leg injury had sidelined her for the first 13 games of the year. Parten tied for the team-lead with seven goals last season.

“It’s about getting her comfortable and up to game speed. She’s really only been practicing at 100% for two weeks,” said Dilanni. “I think every game and every wek is going to get better for her and hopefully when we get a little tighter down the stretch, she’s going to be in a place to impact the game.”

FINAL STATS

#24 Iowa 2 Maryland 0

34′ – Goal Iowa Kenzie Roling (1-0), 75′ – Goal Iowa Kelli McGroarty (2-0)

Shots: Iowa 27-3 Shots on Goal: Iowa 11-1 Corners: Iowa 9-2 Fouls: Maryland 12-7

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will host the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday at the UI Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 1:00pm CT on BTN+.

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