“It was pretty unfortunate,” sophomore goalkeeper Gabrielle Gauruder said. “It deflected off their girl and deflected off our girl and found the right post.”

With less than five minutes to go before the game ended in a tie, MSU was called for one of its 19 fouls on the game. The foul gave Melanie Pickert, an Iowa defender and a native of Canton, Mich., a free kick from about 35 yards out.

The ball deflected off Thomas and got past Gauruder to end the game in favor of the Hawkeyes.

MSU was outshot 23-6 for the game, giving Iowa plenty of opportunities. For most of the game, Gauruder made several critical saves en route to a career-high 11 saves in just her third career start.

Both teams played a physical type of game, upping the foul count. MSU’s 19 fouls included a yellow card given to junior midfielder Megan Marsack in the 57th minute. Iowa finished with 17 fouls.

Head coach Tom Saxton said despite the large amount of fouls, he didn’t think there was any dirty play.

“I thought (Iowa) did a really good job (on defense),” Saxton said. “(Iowa) was an extremely tough and hard nosed team, and that mentality made it tough to get any rhythm on the ball.”

Gauruder got the nod in goal for the Spartans in place of junior goalkeeper Courtney Clem, who has been the top goalkeeper this season and last season.

Clem was benched during last Thursday’s Michigan game. In the first 15 minutes against Michigan, Clem allowed two quick goals, which led Saxton to turn to Gauruder midway through the first half.

Although Gauruder started Sunday, Saxton said practice will decide who will start when MSU travels Saturday to Columbus, Ohio, to take on Ohio State.

“(Gauruder) worked really hard the last year and a half, and we felt she deserved an opportunity,” Saxton said. “We feel like we have two solid goalkeepers, (and) we’ll see how the week unfolds.”