IOWA CITY, Iowa – The fourth-seeded Maryland field hockey squad (8-7) fell behind early and couldn't recover as it fell to fifth-seeded Iowa, 3-0, in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals in Iowa City, Iowa.
 
The Hawkeyes (11-4) scored all three of their goals in the first half, two in the first seven minutes of play. Iowa took three of its eight total shots in the first 7:26 of the match, then the two teams were even in shot opportunities with five each for the rest of the match.
 
"We came out a little slow. Iowa is a very powerful team and dominated from the get-go in the first 15 minutes," head coach Missy Meharg said. "That really set the tempo for the match. Although we played a sustained great brand of hockey in the third and fourth, it was a lot of good hockey a little too late.
 
"We've been through a journey. And we've been for each other, with each other, thick and thin, win, loss, we are in it together. I couldn't be prouder of the memories of this team over so many years of what we know to be a regular season. There's nothing regular about what we've done. I can't believe how resilient, how powerful, how strong these women and this team and program is."
 
Ellie Holley scored Iowa's first goal just 4:24 into the match when she finished off a penalty corner. Just 2:29 later, Alex Wesneski sent in a shot to the far corner of the cage to make it a two-goal lead.
 
Just over seven minutes into the second quarter, Wesneski added the Hawkeyes' third goal.
 
The Terrapins took five shots to the Hawkeyes' eight and had four penalty corners to Iowa's two. Senior goalkeeper Noelle Frost made three saves.
 
Frost was named this week's Play Safe Turf & Track/NFHCA Division I Defensive Player of the Week Wednesday.
 
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be streamed on NCAA.com at 10 p.m. ET Saturday.