At the start of the day, the Scarlet Knights were on a streak that had seen them collect either a win or tie in the last ten matches, with their last defeat coming at the hands of UMass on August 25. On a clear, sunny perfect fall day in Piscataway, Rutgers looked to keep that recent success rolling, but from the start of the match, it was clear that the Iowa Hawkeyes had other ideas.

Coming into the match, Rutgers was ranked as the No. 15 team in the nation, seated in third place (5-0-2) in the Big Ten standings. By comparison, while ranked No. 9 in the nation, Iowa stood right behind them in fourth place (5-1-1) in the Big Ten.

The Hawkeyes started the game looking every bit a Top Ten team in the nation, as they controlled the majority of play for much of the first ten minutes. That’s when sophomore Sofia Bush, assisted by Kenzie Roling and Berit Parten, put a shot past RU goalkeeper Olivia Bodmer at 34:17 to give the Hawkeyes the lead, 1-0.

The 1,180 fans at Yurcak Field soon saw more of the same, as the Hawkeyes led in nearly every statistical category, collecting nine shots, four of which were on goal, and notching six corner kicks through their hard work.

Despite the offensive domination, the Hawkeyes held just a one-goal advantage through the first 45 minutes.

Determined to change the tide of play, the Knights turned up the energy at the start of the second half, getting early penetration into the Iowa zone.

But the shots that materialized from those possessions did not find their mark.

Iowa, however, quickly doubled their lead when senior Meike Ingles found the back of the net through traffic at 49:03 to put Iowa up, 2-0.

Now trailing by two, the RU philosophy changed, running four players up front in the offensive zone in an effort to press the issue and out-number the Hawkeye defenders.

But it was a lead that would prove to be insurmountable, as Iowa shadowed and double-teamed the offensive weapons of the Scarlet Knights, keeping them to the edges of the pitch or clogging up the middle to protect goalkeeper Macy Enneking.

In the end, the Hawkeyes proved too much for the Scarlet Knights, and picked up three points and a key victory against a Big Ten opponent. With the win, the Hawkeyes will move ahead of Rutgers in the standings as the teams continue to vie for position in the conference tournament later this season.

Now 9-2-3, Rutgers will next be traveling to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on Purdue. The game against the Boilermakers is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff on Thursday, October 17. The game will be carried on the Big Ten Plus network.