Tracey Griesbaum is calling for a “fighter’s mentality” in her field-hockey players.

Coming off last weekend, when Iowa started its season 0-2, the 10th-year head coach’s squad will need to deliver on that demand and more if they are to emerge from this weekend at an even 2-2.

The ninth-ranked Hawkeyes will travel to Amherst, Mass., to take on No. 17 Massachusetts (1-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. On Sept. 6, Iowa will battle Boston University (0-2) at noon. Both games are at UMass’ Garber Field.

After dropping games to second-ranked Wake Forest and fourth-ranked North Carolina last weekend, the Hawkeyes aren’t looking for just one win — they want two. But in order to even up their record, the Hawkeyes have some adjustments to make.

“We need better team defense top to bottom,” Griesbaum said. “We need to get more productivity. The opportunities that we did have, we didn’t produce what we needed to.”

Both productivity as well as opportunity came at a premium for the Hawkeyes against their ACC foes last weekend. In two games, Iowa combined for just two goals on 11 shots.

North Carolina and Wake Forest combined for eight goals on 31 shots. If the Hawkeyes face a similar discrepancy when they go up against the Minutewomen on Saturday, they will likely suffer another blemish to their young record. Griesbaum is hoping an improved defensive performance will transition to better offense for her team as well.

“We’re working a lot on team defense and having a lot of our offensive opportunity come from that,” she said. “Just kind of buckling down, getting our sets set sooner, having our urgency a little bit sooner, and really trying to put high pressure on our opponent from an organized front — not a disorganized front.”

For a young Hawkeye team — three freshmen started, and four others played a week ago — starting off the schedule against two perennial powerhouses may have been a daunting order. But that difficult start could also prove to be a blessing in disguise for Iowa — and it’s no accident.

After facing two of the nation’s top teams, Griesbaum expects her players’ urgency, intensity, and attention to detail to be a lot greater.

While most of her youngsters held their own in their first career collegiate action, she expects even better results from her freshmen this weekend after playing back-to-back games against top competition.

“I think that’s the hardest thing to replicate as a high-school athlete,” she said. “I think they fizzled a little bit on Sunday, but lesson learned.”

Meanwhile, Iowa’s veterans, such as senior captain Tricia Dean, are certain that the team will do what it needs to in order to turn things around.

“I think we just need to stay more poised on the ball,” she said. “We have to find each other with our passes, and I think with just more patience we’ll put the ball in the net. We’ll be fine.”