Skip to main content

Iowa Soccer fights back, earns a 2-2 draw with USC

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann6 hours agoHuesmannKyle
The Hawkeyes played to a draw with USC on Sunday night. (Photo by UI Athletics)
The Hawkeyes played to a draw with USC on Sunday night. (Photo by UI Athletics)

The Iowa Soccer team will board the plane from California and return to Iowa City knowing that they fought hard. After a 3-0 shutout loss on Thursday against #14 UCLA, the Hawkeyes fell behind early against USC, looking like they might lose both on their west coast swing. However, Dave Dilanni’s group found a way to net a pair of second half goals to earn a 2-2 draw with the Trojans on Sunday night.

Thursday’s nightmare against UCLA still lingered as the Hawkeyes took the field Sunday night—though they hoped to turn the page, early trouble struck again.

Former Pac 12 Freshman of the Year, forward Maribel Flores is one of the top goalscorers in the Big Ten and she announced her presence early the match. For the second consecutive match, the Hawkeyes gave up a penalty kick, with Josie Jones getting whistled for a foul in the box in the 17th minute. At the penalty spot, Maribel Flores powered a shot to the bottom left corner and Iowa GK Fernanda Mayrink couldn’t save it, despite guessing the right way.

Just minutes later in the 22nd minute, USC doubled their lead. A perfectly executed give and go between Murphy Walsh and Maribel Flores led to a grade A chance for Flores. She slotted it off Mayrink’s leg and into the net to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead.

The way the weekend had gone, the Hawkeyes could have packed up, trailing 2-0, and moved on to their regular season finale with Indiana next week.

They didn’t. Instead, they came out in the second half and found a way back.

The best way to get back to even on the scoreboard was going to be to get an early goal to build some momentum and some belief. In the 49th minute, the Hawkeyes pressed forward on the attack. Kenzie Roling tried to play a cross into the box, but it deflected off of a USC defender. In the right place, at the right time, Berkley Binggeli was there to play the deflection, sending a right-footed shot across goal to the far post for her fourth goal of the season.

Momentum continued to build in favor of the Hawkeyes. The moment that will be replayed over and over by the Iowa coaching staff came in the 65th minute. Out in space, Morgan Lietz played the ball ahead to Kenzie Roling who had seemingly made a perfect run, but the play was whistled for offsides. Upon review, it was the incorrect call, and had the play go on, Roling was going to be in with a 1v1 look at goal.

Despite the missed call, Iowa was able to find the stunning equalizer in the 70th minute. A swinging ball into the box from Kellen Fife found its way to Morgan Lietz who settled it with one touch and played it off a bounce, firing a shot past GK Bella Grust to tie the match 2-2 with under 20 minutes to play.

Iowa dominated the second half, outshooting USC 10-2 and holding the Trojans without a shot on goal. Dave Dillani’s squad threatened for a winner in the final 90 seconds with a pair of corner kicks but were unable to find the back of the net.

FINAL STATS

#5 Iowa 2 USC 2

17′ – Goal USC Maribel Flores (PK) (1-0), 22′ – Goal USC Maribel Flores (2-0), 49′ – Goal Iowa Berkley Binggeli (2-1), 70′ – Goal Iowa Morgan Lietz (2-2)

Shots: Iowa 12-8 Shots on Goal: Iowa 4-3 Corners: Iowa 5-1 Fouls: USC 11-10

Up Next, the Hawkeyes travel to Bloomington on Sunday for a regular season finale match with the Indiana Hoosiers. Kickoff is set for 1:00pm CT on BTN+.

You may also like