The 10th-ranked Iowa field-hockey squad will travel to Kent, Ohio, this weekend to play a pair of matches against Drexel on Saturday and Kent State on Sept. 22.

Iowa will be without freshman Stephanie Norlander this weekend; she will compete for Team Canada in the Pan-American Cup in Mendoza, Argentina. The forward is tied with sophomore Natalie Cafone for the lead in goals for the team with 4 and is second to Cafone in points with 8.

Norlander is the youngest member of the Canadian team; she will be joined by former Hawkeye standout Jess Barnett, who is also from North Vancouver. The two attended the same high school.

Iowa will face a familiar face in Kent State assistant coach Heather Schnepf. The four-year assistant played at Iowa under head coach Tracey Griesbaum. During her senior year in 2006, she capped off a decorated résumé, winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second-straight year — only the third person all-time to accomplish twin back-to-back awards. She was also a first-team and WomensFieldHockey.com All-American during her senior campaign.

Schnepf and her fellow coaches have led the Golden Flashes to a 4-2. Kent State has won its last two matches by a combined score of 17-1.

The Hawkeyes are 5-1 all-time against Kent State and defeated it, 3-1, last year at Grant Field. Iowa also defeated Drexel on the road last season, 3-1.

“Both programs are really well-coached and really organized,” Griesbaum said. “We’ve played them both before, [Kent State] a lot more — so we’re pretty familiar with each other’s programs. It’ll be great.”

Both matches are slated to begin at 11 a.m.

— by Danny Payne