Oct. 9, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern's field hockey team dropped its fifth one-goal game of the year, falling to the 13th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes 2-1 Wednesday afternoon at Lakeside Field. The loss drops NU to 4-7 overall, while Iowa improves to 7-3. The game did not count in the Big Ten standings.
After having a goal disallowed nine minutes into the game, Iowa tallied its first goal when senior Lauren Edwards took a pass from Tiffany Leister on a penalty corner and put it past an outstretched Kendra Mesa (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand). Mesa, the Wildcat goalkeeper, had two saves in the game, making her second straight start after returning from injury.
Leister put Iowa up 2-0 eight minutes later when she converted a direct shot on a penalty corner.
The Wildcats cut the lead in half when freshman Christine Nannicelli (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) redirected a Candice Cooper (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) shot past an outstretched Iowa goalie. It was Nannicelli's second goal of the season and the 20th for the team.
The second half was a defensive battle, with each team squandering scoring opportunities late in the game.
NU is next in action Friday, traveling to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Buckeyes at 2 p.m. The game will be played at the North Turf Field on Ohio State's athletic campus, home of the 2002 Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament.