IOWA CITY — Iowa women’s soccer celebrated Senior Day with a breakthrough Sunday, October 25, beating USC for the first time as Reilly Heman scored a goal and assisted on two more in a 3-1 victory.
The Hawkeyes improved to 9-4-5 overall and 4-3-4 in the Big Ten, completing a two-win weekend at the Iowa Soccer Complex after knocking off No. 10 UCLA on Friday.
USC dropped to 2-9-6 overall and 1-6-4 in conference play.
“It was a tough Sunday game, there was a lot of frustration from our side with the amount of times we got caught offsides,” Iowa coach Dean Ward said. “But we got two wins this weekend against two good teams. We’ll take it and move on to the next one to try and get into the Big Ten Tournament.”
Heman delivers on all three Iowa goals
Heman opened the scoring in the ninth minute, finishing off an assist from Abby Skiff to give Iowa an early advantage.
The Hawkeyes took that 1-0 lead into halftime despite USC holding a 9-3 advantage in shots and earning all four first-half corner kicks. Iowa goalkeeper Braelynn Galt made five saves before the break to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard.
Iowa extended its lead in the 51st minute when Heman set up Sofia Bush for her second goal of the season.
USC answered in the 71st minute on an unassisted goal by Peyton Nakagawara, cutting the margin to 2-1. The Hawkeyes restored their two-goal cushion in the 82nd minute when Heman supplied another assist, this time finding Elle Wildman for the final goal.
After spending much of the first half defending, Iowa outshot USC 10-6 over the final 45 minutes. The Hawkeyes finished with 13 shots, including eight on target, while USC had 15 shots and six on goal.
Galt finished with five saves as Iowa limited the Trojans to one shot on target after halftime.
Seniors help power milestone win
Heman’s goal raised her team-leading total to nine, the most by a Hawkeye in a season since 2021. Her two assists brought her season scoring total to 20 points.
The fourth-year player also recorded her third four-point performance of the season, becoming the first Hawkeye to accomplish that feat since 2014.
Skiff’s assist was her third of the season, establishing a career high. Iba Oching and Millie Greer played all 90 minutes.
Before kickoff, Iowa honored Sara Batchadji, Lucia Englund, Heman, Bush, Greer and Skiff during its Senior Day ceremony. Those seniors accounted for seven of the Hawkeyes’ nine individual scoring points in the victory.
Wisconsin visits for regular-season finale
Iowa will close the regular season at home against Wisconsin on Friday, October 30, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Iowa Soccer Complex.
The Badgers enter the matchup at 10-4-3 overall and 6-3-2 in the Big Ten. The match will stream on B1G+.