No. 6 Penn State field hockey (6-2, 1-1 Big Ten) lost once again to No. 2 Iowa(10-0, 2-0 Big Ten) 4-0 Sunday afternoon in Iowa City.

The Nittany Lions struggled to keep up with Iowa’s offensive firepower, as the Hawkeyes managed to apply pressure to Penn State’s defense all afternoon.

How It Happened

Within the first three minutes of the game, Iowa’s Ellie Holley scored to give the Hawkeyes a 1-0 lead, and the Nittany Lions would not be able to catch up from there.

The Hawkeyes continued to capitalize on this momentum and score two more times in the second quarter. The first goal came from Nikki Freeman at the 3:38 mark, extending the lead to 2-0. Penalties began to pile up for the Nittany Lions, resulting in Iowa’s third goal on a penalty shot from Ellie Holley, her ninth score of the season. The offensive pressure from Iowa did not let up heading into halftime, as the Hawkeyes had six shots on goal to Penn State’s three.

As the second half began, the Nittany Lions were able to clean up more of their mistakes and hold the Hawkeyes to a scoreless third quarter. This allowed for more movement on both sides of the field and put more pressure on the Iowa defense. While the offense was still lacking, the Nittany Lions were certainly able to make it a more competitive atmosphere.

In the final quarter of the game, the reigning Big Ten player of The Year, Anthe Nijziel, was able to score off of her own rebound furthering the Iowa lead to 4-0. Penn State tried to ignite some sort of offense in the final minutes of the game, but ultimately fell short in a shutout loss.

Takeaways

• Similar to Friday, penalties and turnovers played another big role in today’s loss. A majority of time was spent in Penn State territory, not even allowing the Nittany Lions a chance to make it a competitive game offensively.
• Even thought this game did not count towards the Big Ten conference record, this weekend served as a good introduction to how tough the Nittany Lions’ conference slate could be.

What’s Next?

Penn State will continue Big Ten play next weekend. The Nittany Lions will open with a game against Indiana at 6 p.m. Friday in Happy Valley.