Iowa Soccer falls to TCU in a top ten showdown

The Hawkeyes knew their start to the ’25 season was far from an easy one, with a pair of top ten teams and a conference favorite on the docket for their first three matches. After taking down 6th-ranked Arkansas in the opener, the Iowa Soccer team returned home for a highly anticipated match against 7th-ranked TCU. Unfortunately for the crowd of nearly 2,500 in attendance, the visiting Horned Frogs came away with a 3-2 victory.

A split with two top ten opponents is certainly nothing to scoff at, but there were moments throughout the night where Dave Dilanni hoped for a little more out of his team. With nearly a whole season still ahead, the loss will provide some points to work on going forward.

“I thought in the first half and most of the second, we were pretty sloppy with the ball,” said Dilanni. “I thought we gave it back to them a little too quickly, which means we had to defend more. Ultimately, you can’t give up the three goals we gave up and win a top ten game and that’s something we’ve got to look at.”

The Horned Frogs posed a much different test than what the Hawkeyes faced in their exhibition against Kansas and in their season-opener against Arkansas. A team that isn’t afraid to possess the ball and build slowly from the back, Iowa was unable to put together sustained stretches of possession themselves.

TCU got on the board first in the 10th minute on terrific individual effort from Emma Yolinksy. The redshirt freshman transfer from Texas A&M made several Hawkeye defenders miss in the open field, before cutting back and delivering a strike off the crossbar for an impressive opening goal.

It appeared as though the lead was going to hold up for the first 45 minutes, but forward Olivia Lebdaoui had different ideas about how the game should go into the break. The Hawkeyes earned a corner kick just before the half and the Florida State transfer delivered a goal directly off the corner, better known as an Olimpico goal to equalize the match. A potential momentum changer, the 43rd minute goal made things all square as the two sides went to the locker room.

“It was massive,” said Dilanni. “I was expecting a little bit better response from our group (in the second half).”

The first half closing goal did not provide the momentum that the Hawkeyes hoped for and TCU was back on the attack in the 55th minute with a dangerous free kick. Miah Schueller was issued a yellow card for a tackle, which set the Horned Frogs with a good look just outside the left side of the box. Seven Castain did what she does best. Score goals. Iowa goalkeeper Fernanda Mayrink saved a header from Morgan Brown at the back post, but it deflected off the crossbar and back out in front where Castain was standing to clean things up for an easy goal.

“Where we really struggled, where we were excellent at Arkansas, was winning the second ball in the midfield, and we didn’t do that almost at all tonight. That put us in pretty poor positions in transition.”

Ten minutes later in the 65th minute, TCU got a brace from Seven Castain, which put the Hawkeyes hopes of earning a result in the match in doubt. It wasn’t the prettiest play, but it was effective. Castain dribbled into the box and surrounded by three defenders; she was able to chip it past Mayrink to make it 3-1 with time starting to get short.

To earn a result against a team like TCU, the Hawkeyes needed more out of their press. Coach Dilanni says, at times, they executed the press well, but they weren’t able to have enough success and spent most of the night chasing and defending.

“I do think when you’re not getting it right in the press, then it becomes a game where you’re chasing shadows, we call it, and you’re chasing the ball and you’re not in control. Defending is about being in control, limiting spaces and controlling where teams play.”

The Hawkeyes made things interesting in the very late stages of the match, but it was too late to make a real push at equalizing. A handball on TCU in the 89th minute gave Iowa a penalty kick and Olivia Lebdaoui calmly converted her second goal of the night to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 105 seconds to play. Unfortunately, that was all for the late game fireworks, with the Horned Frogs hanging on for the win.

“We’re not a bad team, today we just needed to play better,” said Dilanni. “We don’t get much of a break on our schedule. We play Western Michigan who’s probably going to win the MAC, and we’ve got St Louis next week, so we don’t get a break to feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to grow and learn.”

FINAL STATS

10′ – TCU Goal Emma Yolinsky (1-0), 43′ – Goal Iowa Olivia Lebdaoui, 54′ – TCU Goal Seven Castain (2-1), 65′ – TCU Goal Seven Castain (3-1), 89′ – Iowa Goal Olivia Lebdaoui (3-2)

Shots: Tie 15-15 Shots on Goal: TCU 8-4 Corners: Iowa 6-4 Fouls: Iowa 13-7

The Hawkeyes are back in action on Sunday, as they take on MAC favorite Western Michigan at the UI Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 1:00pm CT on BTN+.