On Sunday, the Colorado College women's soccer team took on their first Top 25 opponent since 2019 when they battled the University of Iowa in Missoula, MT. The Tigers took a first-half lead after
Finley Schoenbeck scored her first collegiate goal. However, the Hawkeyes responded with four unanswered goals to win 4-1.
CC's last game vs a ranked opponent was back on Sept. 17, 2021, in a double-overtime thriller against No. 20 Arizona State.
On Sunday, the Tigers brought the fight to the defending Big Ten champions in the first half of the first meeting between the two teams since 2005. Freshman
Finley Schoenbeck was fed a fantastic ball from sophomore
Tyler Rose, who streamlined a pass from the right side of the field as Schoenbeck split two defenders and deflected the pass into the back of the net for her first career goal.
"Great first half for us," head coach
Keri Sanchez said. "We stayed committed to the game plan and worked on defense to be hard to break down. We knew we could get chances off the counter and the team earned a great early goal."
Despite facing seven shots from the Hawkeyes in the first half, CC needed only one to find the back of the net thanks to the fantastic feed and find from Rose to Schoenbeck.
Iowa racked up their first goal to knot the game up at 1-1 in the 30th minute after Sofia Bush scored in an unassisted play.
Goalkeeper
Regan Wallace made two saves in the first half; the sophomore finished the game with five saves.
The Hawkeyes continued to attack the box in the second half, putting up 12 shots compared to their seven in the first half. Berkley Binggeli's goal in the 57th minute gave Iowa the lead.
14 minutes later, the Tigers were attempting to clear their box, but some pinball ricochets allowed a hole to open up, and Iowa scored again with another goal from Binggeli. Three minutes later, Iowa added one more goal to seal the victory and earn their first program victory over the Tigers.
"The score did not reflect the team's effort, but when we went down, we wanted to go after the win, so we got a bit stretched and it cost us," Sanchez said. "We are proud of the group's effort and their improvement from Game 1 to Game 2."
Kaelin Enga led the Tigers with two shots, including one on goal in her 40 minutes on the pitch.
Ava Risser led the non-goalkeeper players with 87 minutes played. The senior defender played 159 minutes over the week.
CC opens play at Stewart Field in five days when South Dakota State comes to town on Thursday, Aug. 22nd, for a 6 p.m. MT kickoff. The Tigers will host in-state adversary Northern Colorado on Sunday, Aug. 25th, at 6 p.m. MT.
