"I think we got a little spark and a little momentum going into the second half," Northwestern field hockey coach Diane Loosbrock said. "And then we just sat on our heels and didn't step up our play."

The second half began quickly when Anselmo scored on a penalty corner on assists by Larson and Galie 2:45 into the half. A little more than two minutes later, Gehris scored her second goal of the game to increase Penn State's lead to 4-1.

Galie added two unassisted goals to close out the scoring.

The win was Morett's 250th in her coaching career. She went 37-16-8 in three years at Boston College and has posted a 213-67-8 record at Penn State since 1987.

The Lions came out against Iowa on Sunday fighting with the Hawkeyes and Michigan for the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Early on, it looked as if Penn State would roll to a victory. The Lions got on the scoreboard 10 minutes into the game on a penalty corner goal by Anselmo, assisted by Larson and Galie. Then, with 3:13 remaining in the first half, Larson and Galie assisted on another goal, this time by sophomore Kiley Kulina.

At halftime, Iowa field hockey coach Beth Beglin challenged her team to come back.

"I said, 'We were right here in this same spot against Ohio State, and don't even for one minute think that this game was going to be over,' " Beglin said. "We just talked about having to keep the pressure on."

Iowa (13-1, 6-1) began its comeback 5:06 into the second half when forward Quan Nim scored to cut the deficit in half.

The Hawkeyes would tie the game less than seven minutes later, when back Natalie Dawson pushed a shot past Lions redshirt freshman goalkeeper Heidi Leuchte.

Both teams fought for the advantage until Hawkeyes midfielder Tiffany Leister shot the game-winning goal on a penalty corner with a less than seven minutes remaining.

The Lions would threaten on a penalty corner, but couldn't score on Hawkeyes goalkeeper Kelly Druley, who made 11 saves.

Morett said she was disappointed in her team's performance in the second half.

"I think it's real disappointing because we didn't play a second half," Morett said.

"They (the Lions) looked so sharp the first half and I said to them, 'You know, this game is 70 minutes, especially against a team like Iowa.' It's just very disappointing."