Iowa women's soccer shuts out No. 4 Penn State, moves to Big Ten Tournament championship game

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Iowa women's soccer team shut out No. 4 Penn State on Thursday to advance to Sunday's Big Ten Tournament final.

Freshman Meike Ingles’ goal in the 47th minute capped a defensive clinic in the Hawkeyes’ 1-0 victory.

The win was Iowa’s third ever against Penn State and its first ever in Happy Valley.  The Nittany Lions are the highest ranked team the Hawkeyes have defeated in program history.

Iowa advances to the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the third time in school history.

Iowa entered the game as a heavy underdog. The Hawkeyes controlled time of possession in the first half, attacking early on offense with five shot attempts, while breaking up the Nittany Lions’ sequences with intense defensive pressure.

In the opening minutes of the second period, junior Hailey Rydberg picked up her second assist of the season on a fast break pass to Ingles, who fired a shot off the bottom-left corner of the goal for the game’s only score.

The goal marked the freshman’s third career score, all of which have come this postseason. Each score was a game-winner, as Ingles sunk an overtime golden goal against Illinois and the go-ahead goal in a shutout against Minnesota.

From there, it was defensive effort for the Hawkeyes, who were forced to field 10 players for the final 30 minutes after sophomore Samantha Cary was issued her second yellow card of the game in the 61st minute.

Iowa fended off a barrage of 24 total Penn State shot attempts. That was thanks in large part to freshman goalkeeper Macy Enneking, whose nine saves mark a new career best.

Iowa will face third-seeded Wisconsin in Sunday’s championship game at 11 a.m. CT.

The University of Iowa sports information department contributed this report.