The Hawkeyes will see two top-25 teams in Ohio State and Penn State at home.

By Courtney Baumann
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The Iowa soccer team will have a lot on its plate this weekend.

The Hawkeyes, who started the Big Ten season with two losses on a road trip to Michigan State and Michigan, will take on No. 20 Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State over the next three days.

Iowa, which began the season 6-1-0, needs a win or two this weekend in order to start climbing back in the Big Ten standings.

“We know that this weekend is a huge weekend for us. We got zero points on the road, and then we have to turn around, and it doesn’t get any easier,” head coach Dave DiIanni said. “We have to get points at home.”

That is easier said than done.

Ohio State, which Iowa will play today, has a record of 5-2-2.  The Buckeyes have almost tied their victory total from their less-than-impressive season last year, in which they went 6-10-3. However, they return all but two people who scored a goal last season.

Penn State, on the other hand, is coming off of a 20-4-0 season in which the team won three games in the NCAA Tournament and eventually lost in the quarterfinal round to Texas A&M. The Nittany Lions return 19 players who were a part of that team, including eight starters.

A win over then No. 2 Stanford proved that Penn State has something left this season.

“We have to play three of the top four teams in the conference, back to back to back,” DiIanni said. “We’ll have to defend for longer periods of time, we’ll have to counter them, and have to pick our moments when we are able to go ahead offensively.”

The return of redshirt freshman Jenna Kentgen this weekend may add the extra boost the Hawkeyes will need. Kentgen missed both of the games in Michigan because a hyperextended knee earlier that week in practice.

Junior Corey Burns was also unable to play last weekend. She has not played since Sept. 1 against Northern Iowa and will not likely be back in action this weekend, either.

“Having Corey out hurts, since she’s a big leader,” junior Tory Harman said. “I think we missed Jenna’s calming presence a little bit [last weekend]. It’ll be great to have her back.”

Being at home may be an additional push for Iowa. The team has not lost at the Iowa Soccer Complex in almost a full calendar year, since Sept. 28, 2014.

Despite home-field advantage, which may help or hurt the Hawkeyes, Kentgen put the team’s goals for this weekend simply.

“Since we lost to both Michigan and Michigan State, we need to win,” she said. “The team needs these wins.”