IOWA CITY — Sixth-ranked Iowa field hockey erased a two-goal deficit and briefly grabbed the lead Friday, October 23, but Rutgers answered late and delivered the overtime winner to beat the Hawkeyes 4-3 at Grant Field.
Dionne van Aalsum scored twice in just over two minutes during the fourth quarter to put Iowa ahead 3-2. The Scarlet Knights tied the match less than two minutes later, then won it when Frederique Vernooij scored off an assist from Emma Uprichard at the 73:38 mark.
Iowa fell to 11-3 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play. Rutgers improved to 10-6 and 4-2 in the conference.
Hawkeyes storm back from two goals down
Rutgers struck first when Olivia Fraticelli scored off an Anna Cogdell assist at 8:12 of the opening quarter.
The Scarlet Knights carried that 1-0 advantage into halftime and doubled their lead in the third quarter. Laura Loycke scored off a feed from Martha Goodridge at 42:05, leaving Iowa facing a two-goal climb.
The Hawkeyes responded quickly. Fréderique van Cleef scored her 17th goal of the season at 43:41, finishing off an assist from Rachel Herbine to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Van Aalsum then took over in the fourth quarter. She tied the match at 48:47 off Herbine’s second assist before scoring again at 50:52, this time on a feed from van Cleef.
Her 15th and 16th goals of the season gave Iowa its first lead of the afternoon.
Rutgers survives Iowa’s offensive pressure
The Hawkeyes’ advantage lasted just 1 minute, 46 seconds. Ella Gandy scored unassisted at 52:38 to pull Rutgers even at 3-3 and eventually send the match into overtime.
Vernooij’s winner at 73:38 ended an afternoon in which Iowa held a substantial edge in offensive chances.
The Hawkeyes outshot Rutgers 30-12 and earned nine penalty corners to the Scarlet Knights’ five. Rutgers goalkeeper Emily Nicholls kept her team in the match with 16 saves.
Iowa goalkeeper Julia Claessens made six saves and fell to 5-2 in goal this season.
Van Cleef finished with a goal and an assist, while Herbine supplied two assists to help fuel Iowa’s comeback.
The narrow defeat followed another close Big Ten battle earlier this month, when Iowa fell 2-1 to unbeaten, top-ranked Northwestern.
Penn State visits for Senior Day
Iowa returns to Grant Field on Sunday, October 25, to host Penn State on Senior Day.
The match begins at noon Central and will stream on B1G+.