On Thursday, No. 2 Penn State women’s soccer fell 1-0 at the hands of the No. 12 seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals at Jeffrey Field.

The Nittany Lions led the spirited visitors in nearly every statistical category except the one dictating the final result — finished shots, resulting in scores.

As a team, head coach Erica Dambach’s unit peppered Iowa keeper Macy Enneking with 24 shots, including 11 quality looks on the net. Conversely, the stout Nittany Lion backline allowed just seven shots on goal but surrendered one costly breakaway strike to speedy forward Meike Ingles that proved to be the difference.

“Tonight all the credit goes to Iowa,” Dambach said postgame. “They came in with a great game plan. They executed precisely. They were a very good team tonight, and I thought we relied a little bit too much on individuals as we’ve done the last three games, and that’s not going to prove to be a very successful formula, as we saw tonight.”

Throughout the match, Penn State’s star players struggled to maintain possession against Iowa’s packed, defensive-styled approach. Ally Schlegel, Frankie Tagliaferri, and Sam Coffey all combined for 17 shots, but only six registered as on-net opportunities.

The Iowa defense, led by the veteran presence of Diane Senkowski, responded to the powerful offensive attack by loading the middle of the field, an approach the home team has struggled against all season long. As a result, more than half of the Nittany Lion attempts were blocked, halting serval series consisting of grueling penetration.

“They made it very clear that they were going to give us the wide space, and they were going to allow us to serve balls in the box, and they were going to clog it up with a lot of numbers,” Dambach said. “It’s a game of chance at that point. I think they put a lot of bodies in, every shot was contested, every ball was blocked, and it worked.

“I think a couple of those could have certainly found the back of the net. But at the end of the day, you’re playing through a lot of bodies at that point, Dambach added. “They chose what they wanted to take away, and it worked, and it worked the last time we played them, too.”

Although the final resulted in Penn State’s unexpected early exit from the conference tournament, Dambach knows her squad has put in too much work to pack it in. After all, Thursday’s disappointment ended as just the second loss of the season for the star-studded unit.

With two weeks until the NCAA Tournament, Dambach believes Thursday’s output could actually help Penn State in the long haul. Losing as a heavy favorite is always going to sting. But for this Nittany Lion group, a national title run is still in the cards.

“You’d hope it was a wake-up call,” Dambach said. “You know, I don’t think our performance over the past three games has necessarily been very good, so I’m hoping it’s the wake-up call we need. I know that this team is special, and it has the ability to play with the best teams in the country. But I don’t think the details are there right now, and that’s on me.”

When Dambach takes responsibility for losing outputs, the head coach almost always delivers. In 13 previous seasons at the program’s helm, the head coach has reached the Sweet Sixteen eight times.

Penn State’s two losses entering this year’s big dance mark the fewest of any other campaign during her tenure. If history is any indicator, the Nittany Lions are well on their way to reaching top form prior to tournament action.

“The hard part is that this team has been training quite well, and showing up on gameday a little bit flat,” Dambach saaid. “We have to go back as a staff and figure out what that issue is and try to correct it. I got a lot of faith in this squad. I got a lot of faith in the leadership, and we’ll get back to work.”