By Ricardo Ascencio
The Iowa soccer squad kicked off a two-match home stand on Sept. 2 and ended the weekend with a bang on Sunday afternoon, finishing with wins over Colorado State and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
The Hawkeyes started by defeating Colorado State, 4-1, and on Sunday downed Edwardsville, 5-1.
Iowa and Colorado State started the match exchanging close shots, trying to break the scoreless tie, but it wasn’t until Iowa junior Karly Stuenkel capitalized on an assist from freshman Hannah Drkulec that the Hawkeyes got on the board, giving Iowa a 1-0 lead.
“It was a good pass by Hannah,” Stuenkel said. “I had just seen the back post open, so I played it, and it wasn’t a great touch, but a goal is a goal, and I was happy to get it.”
The Hawkeyes extended their lead before halftime when senior Bri Toelle scored in her second-straight game, posting her third goal of the season just before the end of the half.
The Hawkeyes entered the second half with the same fire they had to begin the game.
After giving up an early goal to Colorado State’s Janele Stone, the Hawkeyes got one right back thanks to Stuenkel, who scored 10 minutes into the second period. It was her first multi-score game of the season.
“Everyone just crashed the box, and I just happened to be there slide in and score,” Stuenkel said.
With a 57th-minute goal by sophomore Rose Ripslinger, the Hawkeyes were able to easily put away the Rams.
With the victory on Sept. 2, the Hawkeyes moved to an impressive 4-1 start, and the game’s brightest star was excited about it.
“Our bench is so deep, we are able to sub so much more, and everyone is contributing, which is awesome,” Stuenkel said. “The game is all about momentum, and we have been doing a really good job at starting off games, getting the goal and moving on from there. Overall, we’ve been doing an awesome job.”
The Hawkeyes continued their run on Sunday as they hosted the Edwardsville Cougars.
Much like against Colorado State, Iowa put up a scoring clinic, defeating Edwardsville 5-1.
“Anytime you can score 9 goals in two games against two good opponents, you have to feel good about yourself,” head coach Dave DiIanni said. “We are creating a lot of opportunities.”
Against Edwardsville, the scoring was much more spread out as Stuenkel, Toelle, Ripslinger, and sophomores Jenna Kentgen and Morgan Kemerling all scored.
“In the first half, we did really, really well,” Ripslinger said. “We pretty much did everything we set out and wanted to do: put up very high-pressure, keep the intensity high on the field. We were able to capitalize on very quick opportunities that we had early in the half.”
With the decisive victory over Edwardsville, the Hawkeyes are now themselves at 5-1 and winners of five in a row.
There is a lot of confidence building up in the players, and DiIanni believes that the squad can accomplish almost anything.
“All the teams that I have been on that were successful were teams that can score a variety of ways across the board. We have seven or eight players who can score goals,” he said. “We are making progress in the final third and creating opportunities. For us, a lot of it starts with our ball movement and creating a lot of chances off of our defensive presence.”
The Hawkeyes will spend this week preparing to take their five-game winning streak to Ames this coming weekend to take on Iowa State.