Cards Drop Sunday Matchup with No. 15 Iowa

Sunday, September 14

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:30 PM

University of Louisville

(3-3)

Iowa

(5-1)

Iowa

Louisville

September 14, 2025 | Field Hockey

Box Score

Annabel Sep connects on her third goal of the season in Louisville's 5-1 loss to No. 15 Iowa

By: Lori Harmon

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville field hockey team fell 5-1 to No. 15 Iowa Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium. With the loss, the Cardinals drop to 3-3 on the season while the Hawkeyes move to 5-1.

Iowa jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter and added another goal in the second. After regrouping at halftime, the Cardinals got on the scoreboard with a penalty corner goal by Annabel Sep. Louisville continued to attack with seven more shots on goal in the second half, but the Hawkeyes prevailed 5-1. Emily Young had one save and Alessia Cicuto recorded two stops for the Cardinals while Iowa's Mia Magnotta collected eight saves for Iowa. Dionne van Aalsum led the Hawkeyes' offense with two goals and an assist.

"Today was kind of a tale of two halves," said UofL head coach Justine Sowry. "In the first half, Iowa was a fantastic unit. Clearly it was not a great start to the game for us – the first quarter in particular. We had to get back to our game plan at halftime and we were able to play a little bit more like our style of hockey. We definitely got more opportunities and we limited their opportunities, but at the same time, they were probably going deep into their bench."

Iowa quickly got on the scoreboard just 1:01 into the game when Dionne van Aalsum connected on a rebound off of Louisville goalkeeper Emily Young. The Hawkeyes added to the lead with three more goals within a three-minute span. Frederique van Cleef delivered an unassisted goal with 4:25 left to play in the quarter to make the score 2-0. Just over a minute later, Milly Short delivered on a penalty corner feed from van Aalsum. Felicia Zonnenberg capped the first quarter scoring with 1:27 remaining in the frame to give Iowa a 4-0 lead. Iowa's offense continued midway through the second quarter when Van Aalsum converted on a penalty stroke to make the score 5-0

The teams entered halftime with Iowa up 5-0 after the Hawkeyes outshot the Cardinals 10-0 and held a 3-0 edge in corners.

After the break, Louisville opened the third quarter on the attack, earning its first penalty corner of the game. Potter got the play started and Kroon provided the stop as Sep delivered her third goal of the season to put the Cardinals on the scoreboard.

Iowa was awarded another penalty stroke with 3:17 left in the third quarter, but this time Cicuto denied van Aalsum's attempt, keeping the score at 5-1.

The Cards would go on to outshoot the Hawkeyes 5-1 with a 3-0 edge in corners in the fourth quarter, but they were unable to score another goal.

"I knew today was going to be harder especially after the Friday night game [against Northwestern]," said Sowry. "It usually is coming from a wonderful performance like that - and we worked very hard on Friday. I knew from a physical standpoint it would be challenging and maybe more from the mental side of things. We were just caught a second too late on pretty much every play. We isolated the ball carrier and in terms of pressing or defending we were really late, really slow and really flatfooted. They ran circles around us, so kudos to Iowa and their coaching staff. We are capable, we've just got to get back to the drawing board as we've got another game to prepare for next Friday."

The Cardinals will close out their home stand on Friday when they play host to No. 12 Ohio State at 4 p.m.