On Aug. 17, Emily Scott took the field with her teammates of the past two years. But this time was different. Scott was no longer standing by her teammates’ side but rather across from them.

That is when it hit Scott that she was officially a Hawkeye. Her first match was against her former team —Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“When I walked on the field and saw all my old teammates lining up, and I wasn’t in the lineup anymore I was like, ‘OK, I’m really not there anymore,’ ” Scott said.

Scott played soccer for the Wisconsin-Milwaukee during her freshman and sophomore years. However, around February, she realized a change needed to take place.

So the junior looked to one of her original choices coming out of high school — Iowa.

“We recruited her the first time around,” head coach Ron Rainey said. “Emily had done very well at Milwaukee. It just was something where she wanted a different experience. After she contacted us, it was a no-brainer to get her out here and see if this would work.”

Seven games into the season, Scott has found her role with the Hawkeyes and  has started all of Iowa’s seven matches. Despite being new to the Hawkeye program, her teammates and coaches insist she is far from being inexperienced.

“It’s awesome to have someone who’s had prior experience. That’s really transitioning on the field,” teammate Cloe Lacasse said. “It was good to have someone that knew what they were doing.”

In her two years at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Scott also started every game and played every minute of the season during her sophomore year — the first position player to do so for for the team since 2006.

On top of adjusting to a new college and program, Scott has been moved from her previous position of central defender to an outside back.

Scott has openly welcomed the change and the opportunities it brings while on the field. Whereas a central defender’s role is mostly to stay back and not advance very far up the field, Scott is now free to push up both sides of the field.

But as for any transfer, going through the process of being a newcomer again is difficult. For Scott, this may have been the toughest part.

“Being a freshman as a junior all over again [has been tough]. Having everything new, learning the campus all over again, making completely new friends,” Scott said. “But everyone here has made the transition so easy.”

Winning certainly helps Scott with the adjustment period. And this season the Hawks have done plenty of it. The Hawkeyes have a 7-0 record. They’ll try to continue their undefeated run on Sept. 17, when they take on Northern Iowa today at the Iowa Soccer Complex.

“It’s been pretty amazing. I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Scott said. “One game left going into conference play undefeated is probably the best results we could have asked for. And the team has been amazingly welcoming and I’m really loving it here so I can’t complain.”