The Iowa Hawkeyes hopped on the trend of many of Maryland’s Big Ten opponents this season, as they jumped out to an early lead, setting the tone for what would be Maryland’s sixth-straight loss.

Maryland came into their final road game of the regular season looking to yet again score their first conference goal and notch its first conference win.

It did not take long for Iowa to jump on the Terps. In just the fourth minute, Iowa intercepted a long ball from Maryland, and a through ball that slipped through the Terps’ backline to Iowa’s leading scorer, Elle Otto, put the junior in a 1v1 with Liz Beardsley.

Beardsley, who has been a major brightspot for Maryland this season, mistimed her run and Otto was able to get the ball by the junior goalkeeper to give the Hawkeyes the early 1-0 lead and her team leading fifth goal on the season.

“I just think that lack of awareness you know..” said head coach Meghan Ryan Nemzer on the goal from her perspective, “..our center backs was a little bit too wide and we lost track of her [Elle Otto].”

Maryland did not back down, though, getting the ball in Iowa’s box whenever they could and putting pressure on the Hawkeyes’ back line.

Injuries have hurt the Terrapins all season long, and things did not get better for them when freshman forward/midfielder Madison Krakower came off the pitch with an injury, in the fourteenth minute. Krakower has only appeared in eleven games for the Terps this season.

Iowa continued to mount tons of pressure on Maryland, getting two shots on goal in a two minute span, including a shot off the right crossbar.

But just as she has done all season, Beardsley stood her ground and the game stayed at 1-0.

Unfortunately for Beardsley, Iowa was able to break the defense again in the 20th minute, when Iowa senior Kelli McGroarty headed in her third goal of the season off a free kick pass from Millie Greer, extending the Hawkeye lead to 2-0.

And the scoring did not stop there. After being awarded their fourth corner in as many minutes, Iowa converted as the corner deflected off junior Addie Bundy and just got past Beardsley to grow the Hawkeyes’ lead to 3-0 going into the halftime break.

Maryland got a chance early in the forty-seventh minute, when they were awarded a free kick from a foul on Iowa’s Kenzie Rolling.

The Terps’ interesting set piece strategy nearly put them on the board, as Ava Morales’ shot off a short pass hit the top of the crossbar for an Iowa possession, keeping the score at 3-0.

Despite the score, Iowa kept trying to extend their lead, taking more shots at Liz Beardsley, who would not budge.

Maryland began to get careless on defense as the second half went on, with four fouls called against them, including two yellows.

This carelessness caught up to the Terps, as Lauren Wrigley tripped up Iowa midfielder Josie Durr inside the box, awarding the Hawkeyes a penalty.

Durr slotted home the penalty, giving her her fourth goal of the season, making the game 4-0 and allowing Iowa to put a stranglehold on the match.

Things got even worse for the Terps in the sixty-seventh minute, when junior defender Katie Coyle was shown a red card after receiving her second yellow of the game, forcing Maryland to play with ten players for the remaining twenty-three minutes.

“Gotta play more as a unit..” said Coach Nemzer postgame, “I don’t think that second yellow was really a second yellow for Coyle,…But we put ourselves in those situations, so we got to be better about that.”

On top of all of that, Maryland was unable to build any offensive momentum for the majority of the second half, as Iowa continued to control the match.

Maryland got another big chance in the seventy-seventh minute, when Catherine DeRosa took a free kick shot from just outside the box. However, it was saved by Iowa goalkeeper Macy Enneking who picked up her first save of the day.

Iowa put the nail in the coffin in the eighty-first minute, when freshman midfielder Sofia Bush sent a long shot well outside the box over the hands of Liz Beardsley and into the net to make the game 5-0. 

Another difficult conference loss keeps Maryland in last place of the Big Ten standings. They return home this Thursday to face Wisconsin at 8pm EST.