The Hawkeyes need a win to keep their postseason hopes alive.
By Courtney Baumann
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The Iowa soccer team has finally made it through its tough stretch of ranked competitors, and now it will travel to Bloomington, Indiana, to face the Hoosiers on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes, who have started the Big Ten season 0-4-0, desperately need a win and some points to move up in conference standings.
Head coach Dave DiIanni believes the Hawkeyes are well matched with Indiana and will be ready to go after playing close games with then-ranked Michigan and Ohio State.
Indiana does not score a lot of goals, but it defends very well and does not allow many goals — similar to the Hawkeyes, DiIanni said, which makes them a good matchup.
“Indiana is a good team that has gotten points in some games that maybe we haven’t,” he said.
Although Iowa’s record is less than impressive so far, Indiana’s is not anything to call home about. The Hoosiers are 0-2-2, losing to Wisconsin and No. 18 Minnesota and tying Illinois and Northwestern.
Indiana is just one spot higher than Iowa in the conference standings. Minnesota has the top spot in the Big Ten, with a 4-0-0 record and 12 points.
Only the top eight teams in the conference will make it into the Big Ten Tournament at the beginning of November. Nebraska hangs on to that last spot with 5 points.
Iowa is 13th in the conference with no points so far this season.
To be in contention for a spot to qualify, it is vital for the Hawks to get a few wins in the upcoming games.
DiIanni has faith in the Hawkeyes.
“I’m just telling the team, ‘If you can train harder, if you can give more, we need it now. Not in a month, but now,’ ” he said. “We tied for fifth last year with 22 points, we have seven games left, and there are 21 points available. There’s plenty of time left for us to get points … We just have to start getting them now.”
This will be the first weekend that the Hawkeyes will only play one game, rather than two, giving the team an opportunity to rest. Only playing one game means the team does not have to worry about a quick turnaround and being tired in the second match.
“It’s always hard to play Friday, then turn around on Sunday,” junior Rachele Armand said. “If we only have one game Saturday, we can go out and give it our all.”
Second-year coach DiIanni does not need to stress to his players how much they need a win in Bloomington, because they know.
While it has been hard for the team to keep the mentality up after a rough Big Ten start, the players have cleaned the slate and have their minds set on what needs to be done.
“We need points. We need to win the rest of the games we’re playing in the Big Ten if we’re going to make the Big Ten tournament,” redshirt freshman Rose Ripslinger said. “I just think this mindset is that if we want to survive, we need to win this weekend.”
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