Northwestern celebrated its biggest win of the season against Iowa with a 3-0 scoreline at Lakeside Field on Thursday.
Three first-half goals, including freshman midfielder Natalie Lagunas’s first career goal, sealed a comfortable win for the Wildcats (6-7-3, 2-4-1 Big Ten), who had gone winless their previous five games. The Hawkeyes (7-7-2, 0-5-1) still have yet to win in conference.
The Cats hadn’t scored in their previous two games, and the three goals scored Thursday night were one more than they had scored in their previous five matchups.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a while,” coach Stephanie Foster said. “We played some really good soccer tonight. We’ve been waiting to see that. A lot of people got on the field; a lot of people did great. It was finally a complete game, and it felt really good.”
The Cats got off to a dream start with an early goal by senior midfielder Jennifer Baumann. After junior midfielder Emily Langston floated in a high corner kick, Baumann rose above her marker to head the ball on goal. An Iowa defender by the goal post cleared the ball, but the referee’s assistant waved his flag to indicate that the ball crossed the line.
Eight minutes later, Iowa goalkeeper Emily Moran giftwrapped a goal for the Cats. Moran, whose kicking was suspect all night, sent her goal kick straight at the chest of freshman forward Kate Allen, who finished clinically for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.
“I actually just turned around and saw it coming towards me,” Allen said. “Thankfully no one was on me, so I just brought it down with my chest and thought, ‘Why not just go for it?'”
The second goal deflated the Hawkeyes, whose ensuing kickoff was carelessly booted out of play. Junior midfielder Jill Dunn nearly got NU’s third goal when she blasted a shot just over the bar. Many in the crowd thought it had gone in, but the ball nestled on the top of the net.
NU’s commanding first half display ended just as it started. Again, it was Baumann who got her head on the ball from a corner, freshman midfielder Julie Sierks got a touch, before Lagunas scored from barely a yard out.
“We’ve been talking about it all week, about how it’s one of my goals for the season,” Lagunas said. “So for me to actually do it was like a dream, it was exciting and to do it with my team out there – I just had such a great time, it was amazing.”
Foster said assistant coach Katie Shields had predicted Lagunas’s goal before the game. Foster wasn’t surprised it happened.
“You can just see it in her,” Foster said. “She’s getting herself in the right spots, and she put it away.”
The Cats have two away games and a home game remaining on its schedule. They return to action on Oct. 29 at home against Minnesota, the team’s last game at Lakeside Field.
“I think this was a huge pick-me-up for our team,” Allen said. “We were looking for a win, and we needed it, so I just think it’s just going to be something to pump us through these last three games and hopefully get some wins.”
