When Iowa heads to the state Michigan this weekend for Big Ten matches in East Lansing and Ann Arbor, a group of current players and coaches on the team will make a trip to their old stomping grounds.
Both of Iowa’s new coaches — head coach Dave DiIanni and assistant Erica Demers — last coached at Grand Valley State, a Division-II school in Michigan.
Along with them, seniors Caitlin Brown and Melanie Pickert and sophomore Natalie Krygier will return to the state they hail from.
“I think its exciting going back; it’ll be exciting going back and being on home soil, but we’re Hawkeyes now,” Demers said. “I think it will matter a lot more to [the girls], not that that doesn’t matter, because it does, especially for those three — they’re all true competitors at heart.
“I think it will mean a lot for them to be back in front of their coaches, friends, and family.”
The Hawkeyes will take on Michigan State on at 3:30 p.m. today, with the game against Michigan slated for 1 p.m. on Oct. 5.
Krygier, who played with many of the women on both teams through her Michigan Hawks soccer club, is looking forward to playing against some of her former teammates.
“It means a lot and I have a bunch of friends on both teams, so obviously there’s a little rivalry there,” she said. “But they are also the big schools in Michigan, so we want to prove a point and come out strong — we have to come out and show everyone we can bounce back.”
The Hawkeyes dropped their last two matches by a combined score of 2-0 and are looking for a place to turn the ship around.
A quick tour of Michigan might just be the place to do this, though this is certainly not a sightseeing trip for the team and especially DiIanni.
“For me, this is all business — despite the fact that it just happens to be a game at Michigan State where I know almost all the players and staff and the players and staff at Michigan as well,” he said. “Maybe at the end, when we have the result we need, it’ll be about me being excited to see some people.”
Both games will be tough matchups for Iowa. Michigan is coming off a season in which it advanced to the third round of the NCAA championships.
The Wolverines are good a good team once again and sit at 4-1 in conference play. Sparty isn’t quite as good as their in-state rival, but their 0-4-1 conference record is deceiving — they’ve played one of the tougher schedules in the Big Ten so far.
“I think you’re going to get a little more finesse from Michigan and a little less from Michigan State, but I think both are going to be very tough opponents,” Demers said. “It’s a new week and we need to get points out of this weekend and it’s going to be a tough weekend — but it’s one game at a time.”