Now that the soccer season is over, next year’s leaders will be made over the upcoming months.

By Courtney Baumann
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Iowa’s 2015 soccer season is over. The seniors are done playing in black and gold, and it is time for the new senior class to step up and take the lead.

There are six players who will be part of the new senior class: Bri Toelle, Amanda Lulek, Corey Burns, Rachele Armand, Tory Harman, and Natalie Krygier. They combined to have 57 starts this year, and that was without the presence of Burns or Krygier for just about the whole season.

Because there were only four people in the past season’s senior class, the juniors have some leadership experience. While that is a good start, there is still work to do, head coach Dave DiIanni said.

“We’re going to raise the expectation level for them next year,” he said. “Some will match it, we hope all of them match it, but some probably won’t. We just want to make sure that we don’t finish the way we did this year again.”

The Hawkeyes finished tied for last place with Indiana and Maryland with a 1-9-1 record.

DiIanni hopes that those who step up as leaders will help to create a culture on the team in which there are higher expectations so that the results for next year are a bit more positive.

One way the players start to develop and start to show their leadership skills is through a leadership program during the off-season. The team votes on a leadership council, which is composed of players of all ages. Those people then participate in things that teach them about being selfless and help them understand good leadership ethics and morals.

Hannah Clark was Iowa’s only captain this season. Over her four years on the team, she has been looked at as a voice and leader on the field by her teammates. Without her, next year’s seniors have some big shoes to fill.

“It’s going to have to come from our whole class coming together and working as a group of leaders rather than having one set leader,” Lulek said. “Of course, there will be some people who are looked up to more, but it really will be a group effort next year.”

Lulek, a native of Geneva, Illinois, said it starts with being a good teammate and pushing each other to be better.

She almost had it down to a checklist of things that leaders of previous years did that she plans on doing. Making sure her teammates are staying out of trouble, getting their schoolwork done, eating right, and sleeping well were just a few of the bullet points.

Although they are sad to be leaving the team, those graduating, including Clark and Brooke Backes, have no doubt whether the team will be left in good hands.

“They’re strong-willed people, great on the field, good in the classroom, and they can handle anything thrown their way,” Clark said.

“Since our class was one-third upperclassmen, two-thirds underclassmen, they had to step up already this year,” Backes said. “It should be a pretty easy transition for them.”

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