When the Iowa soccer team hosts Montana at 7 p.m. today and South Dakota State at 1 p.m. on Aug. 30 at the Iowa Soccer Complex, it will count on two contrasting Hawkeyes to lead a charge toward victory.

The team voted seniors Jackie Kaeding and Heather Windsor as captains to lead the squad this season, as the Hawkeyes (0-1) strive to prove they belong with the Big Ten’s elite and earn their first NCAA Tournament bid in school history.

Born and raised in Iowa City, Kaeding, in her second stint as captain, is the more decorated of the two leaders, having twice been a first-team elite all-state selection at West High. She also has a 2004 state championship on her résumé.

Though college offers flooded in, she couldn’t pass up the chance to stay in her hometown and help build a rising program.

Except for her sophomore year, when she redshirted because of an injury, Kaeding has started every game in her career at Iowa — a perfect 42-for-42, with five goals and four assists. The midfielder has big plans for her fifth year as a Hawkeye, both for her team and herself.

“This is selfish maybe to say, but I really just want to make my own mark on everything,” she said. “I want to be remembered as somebody who not only was a good player, but people can say that I had a lot of passion for the game.”

Windsor’s story as a Hawkeye is quite the opposite. She has never started a match in her college career and has attempted only six shots in the 33 games she has appeared in, scoring one goal. Being a reserve, the Temecula, Calif., native was humbly surprised when she found out she had been nominated for the leadership role.

“I think I’m maybe a different kind of captain in that regard,” she said. “It makes me proud of certain things, like the qualities that my teammates admire in me, that they picked me for those reasons even though maybe I’m not the star starter.”

Windsor had opportunities to play closer to home. But she chose the road less traveled, which took her half a country away to the land of Black and Gold.

“I was really open to getting out of California,” she said. “I love California and would’ve loved staying there, too, but I came on my recruiting visit, and I just loved it. It’s different. There are no professional teams out here. Everybody is just so into the university and all the sports teams — that was really appealing.”

It comes as no surprise that the two players who have such different backstories use different styles to motivate their teammates. Kaeding, the self-proclaimed “outgoing” one, is the vocal leader, and Windsor does what she can to lead from the sidelines.

But head coach Ron Rainey couldn’t be happier with the team’s choice of captains. He saw both players improve during spring practices.

“Jackie and Heather have done an awesome job this past spring kind of learning more about themselves as leaders,” he said. “I think that’s translated into them doing a very good job with our team.

“Heather does a lot of things — her work ethic, her consistency, her ability to stay level-headed at all times has been awesome. Jackie has a lot of energy, and she brings a lot of excitement to the practice field, the game field, and off the field too, that it keeps the team up. I do think that they’ve done some hard work in the spring to translate into being good leaders this fall for us.”

Iowa’s captains do have two things in common: Both are members of the academic All-Big Ten team. But their mutual love for soccer will help guide the Hawkeyes to their first win of the season and their ultimate goal of achieving history.