Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific Field Hockey team fell to No. 7 ranked Iowa, 5-1, at the Pacific Field Hockey  Turf on Sunday morning. Despite the loss, the Tigers held a 9-8 corner advantage while sophomore goalkeeper Laura Pujade made 13 saves. Sophomore Nicole Laskosky scored the first goal at the new field hockey facility in the 64th minute.

Iowa opened up the scoring in the second minute, as Dani Hemeon took an assist from Chandler Ackers after a long corner, dribbled into the circle and fired towards the center of the cage past Pujade for a 1-0 Hawkeyes advantage.

The Tigers were unfazed by the early goal, striking for the next four shots before an Iowa penalty corner broke the streak. The Tigers proved their defensive prowess for the second straight game as an Iowa shot by Natalie Cafone was stopped by freshman Emma Leach for a defensive save in the 23rd minute.

Iowa took advantage of a scoring opportunity in the 29th minute, as Hemeon sent a pass into the area in front of the cage which Natalie Cafone was able to control and send into the goal to put the Hawkeyes up by a pair.

Just over a minute later, Iowa converted a penalty corner opportunity as Hemeon took a pass from Pommeline Korstanje and scored to make the scoreline 3-0 in favor of the visitors.

The scoreline would hold at halftime, as Iowa held a 9-8 advantage in shots while Pacific took a 5-3 lead in penalty corners into the intermission. Pujade made 4 saves in the first half. Pujade had a valiant performance in the second half, making nine saves while often lunging, diving and jumping to keep the Hawkeyes out of the goal.

The Tigers got on the board in the 64th minute,  scoring for the first time at the new facility as Laskosky dribbled through the Iowa defense and shot towards the far post to cut the Iowa advantage to 3-1.

Iowa added two late goals, by Natalie Cafone and Stephanie Norlander, to extend the lead to 5-1 and seal the victory. Cafone finished with five points on nine shots to lead all scorers.

Freshman Savannah Burns led the Tigers with five shots while freshman Alicia Muiños contributed four.

Head Coach Andy Smith praised Iowa's performance while also acknowledging his team's improvement from a year ago, saying "I think Iowa played outstanding and they proved they are a legitimate top five team. We dominated this game at times but gave up some preventable goals. We've got to get better on both sides of the field. I'm proud of our effort today but I'm not satisfied."

The Tigers will be back in action at home against Central Michigan on Thursday. The contest is slated to begin at 3:00 pm. Live video and stats links are available via PacificTigers.com