Forget black and gold attire. Pink will be the preferred color to support the Iowa soccer team tonight.

The Hawkeyes will host Northwestern at the Iowa Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. in the first event of a “Pink Weekend.” The Iowa volleyball and field-hockey teams will also participate in the event to promote breast-cancer awareness.

The first 300 fans will receive free official promotional T-shirts, in addition to chances to win Hawkeye prizes throughout the contests.

“We’re really excited about the game against Northwestern and how it’s bringing awareness to breast cancer,” senior goalkeeper Erica Clausen said. “We think it’s a great opportunity to show the community that we’re invested and to bring a lot of people to the game and, hopefully, get our first win in the Big Ten.”

Iowa plans to experiment with its uniforms for the event as well, with players boasting pink jerseys along with their usual white shorts and socks.

Sophomore midfielder Sarah Langlas said the tops are a “bright, pastel pink” that makes the women look like Easter eggs. But the color “kind of just adds a little something extra to the game.”

Senior Alex Seydel said fans can wear black, gold, pink, or any other as long as they come to the match.

“Either/or is fine,” the center midfielder said. “But of course we’ll encourage them to wear pink. Hopefully, it gets awareness out there, and we do our little part to help things out.”

Iowa may need the fan support, though. The Hawkeyes are still searching for their first Big Ten win of the season. Iowa (8-7, 0-5) stands in last place in the conference standings, while Northwestern (5-8-2, 2-3-1) holds the sixth spot.

Ohio State (11-2-1) and Penn State (8-5-2) are tied for first with identical 4-1-1 conference records.

“All we can think about right now is Northwestern and that we need to play well to get a result,” Seydel said. “Right now, just staying in that short, focused mindset. Just our effort, the things we can control — how hard we work in practice, how hard we stay focused, and getting ready for that next game.”

Seydel said the Hawkeyes’ match against the Wildcats could be the one that propels them to more Big Ten victories.

“We need one of those games where we just work our [butts] off, and everybody knows that we’re so into that, there’s no way we’re going to lose this game,” she said. “I think that’s probably the most important thing right now.

“We know it, they know it, the fans know it, the coaches know it, that we’re here, and we’re ready to play, and we’re not messing around.”

Five of Iowa’s seven losses have been by a single goal.

The Wildcats lead the all-time series, 8-3-1, and they prevailed in last year’s contest, 3-2, in double overtime.

“This year, [Northwestern is] pretty much a heart team — a lot about work ethic,” Langlas said. “So we just have to try to outwork them because that’s something that we can control.”