With that as added fuel, the Lions came out hard and fast against the Hawkeyes. Penn State's offense swarmed into Iowa's end and forced five penalty corners in less than 10 minutes.
The Lions had visibly stepped up their skills on penalty corners, taking second and third shots at the net, but Iowa's goalkeeper stood up to every shot.
"Saleema (Rogers, Iowa's goalie) is a phenomenal athlete," Iowa coach Traci Griesbaum said. "She has excellent quickness, speed and reaction time. She really had to scramble a lot to come up with some of those saves."
Rogers stopped 10 shots in the first half, but the Lions did manage to put one past her. Freshman midfielder Neilye Stoner punched in the rebound of a penalty corner with 4:45 remaining in the first half to give the Lions a 1-0 lead at half time.
While Rogers was stopping shot after shot in Iowa's net, Penn State's goalie Heidi Leuchte stood around twiddling her thumbs. Penn State's defense swallowed any attacks the Hawkeyes mounted and didn't allow the Hawkeyes to register a shot in the first half.
Despite Iowa's offensive difficulties, Griesbaum said she was pleased with her team's performance in the first 35 minutes of play.
"Considering the strength of their team and what we have this year, I was pretty pleased with our first half," Griesbaum said "With three returning starters and a handful of first-year players, I thought we had a pretty good half."
But after a tiring first half, the Iowa defense slowly deteriorated in the second half, starting with a goal off a penalty corner by Anselmo just 2:45 into the half. The corner option was a quick pass play to draw the defense out and allow Anselmo a clear look at the net.
Penn State coach Char Morett said the Lions have been working out different corner options in the past few weeks of practice and it continued to pay off throughout the game. About 10 minutes after Anselmo's goal, Meredith Shulzitski cashed in on a different penalty corner play, to make the score 3-0.
The Lions were able to try out several other corner options with the 17 penalty corners they had. Morett said she was pleased not only with the team's ability to draw the corners, but to put the ball on net.
"The greatest thing about the corners today, even if we didn't get a goal as the result, they were on the goal," Morett said. "They were hard shots and there was always the opportunity to pop one in. That's all you can ask for as a coach is that you give yourself a chance to score."
Three of the Lions four goals in the game came from penalty corners, the fourth was scored by Stoner on a play that looked identical to Anselmo's goal. Anselmo and Stoner said the play is one the team favors because it pulls the defense away from the net and lets the shooter take a clear look at the net.
Iowa fended off the shutout with a goal in the closing minutes of the game, to make the final 4-1.
The win was one of Penn State's strongest of the season and the players recognize that their improvements are coming at a good time — the start of their conference schedule.
"This is a big win for us," Morett said. "The conference is so competitive and no one game is easier than the next in the conference so it's great to get a win especially from a team like Iowa. I'm very pleased with the win."
