Only Wednesday’s game against Northern Iowa remains on the Iowa soccer team’s nonconference schedule, and the Hawkeyes have yet to lose a match.
Against Iowa State on Sept. 9, freshman striker Cloé Lacasse scored two goals in the first 13 minutes as the Hawkeyes (7-0-0) defeated the Cyclones, 4-1.
The offense continued to find the back of the net on Sunday against South Dakota. Iowa recorded its second shutout of the season in a 5-0 victory.
Head coach Ron Rainey said there was some cause for concern, however; the Hawkeyes were flagged eight times for being offside, and they failed to capitalize on numerous scoring chances.
“We have to get better at playing the opponent in front of us,” head coach Ron Rainey said. “We had the team turn around and look at the scoreboard and say, ‘5-0, 27-5 in shots … but do we feel good about how we played?’ and a lot of the players said, ‘No, we wanted to be better today.’ That’s a great sign of a team that is maturing and understanding the object is to be at their best at all times.”
Despite countless missed through-balls and broken-down communication, the Hawkeyes asserted their will on the Coyotes — four different players scored, and South Dakota helped with an own-goal in the 15th minute.
Lacasse added a goal and assist after scoring two goals on Sept. 9. The Ontario native now leads the team with nine goals and three assists for 21 points.
Earlier in the weekend, Iowa and Iowa State battled in a hard-fought, physical Cy-Hawk rivalry game. The two teams traded hard tackles, and a red card against the Cyclones brought Iowa State down to 10 players in the 70th minute.
“We came out fired up,” senior Morgan Showalter said on Sept. 9. “There are a lot of underclassmen, and we wanted them to learn the rivalry. We just wanted to show them that and come out hard against [the Cyclones].”
Showalter etched her name in the Iowa record books during the victory.
In the 31st minute, the Iowa captain sent a corner kick into the box. Senior defender Rachel Blakesley sent the ball into the net, giving Showalter the 21st assist in her Iowa career.
Showalter passed Sarah Lynch (1999-2002) for most in program history.
The Cedar Rapids native wasn’t done yet, however. Showalter connected on another corner kick to sophomore Alex Melin in the 62nd minute for another goal.
“What’s great is some of those assists that she has, you can’t help scoring on those,” Rainey said. “She’s able to the put the ball exactly where it needs to be, she’s scored some great goals and has been on the end of a lot of goals.”
Even though the Hawkeyes offense was able to pepper South Dakota with shots (27 to the Coyotes’ five), Iowa wants to be more focused heading into Wednesday’s showdown with Northern Iowa.
“[At halftime], we came off the field a little disappointed with how we were playing in the first half,” Blakesley said. “The biggest thing is implementing our style of game when we’re playing teams, no matter if it’s a Big Ten team or not.
“Mentality is huge, and how hard a team is willing to come out … will get the result and outcome we want.”
