By Andrew Donlan
The Iowa soccer team (7-10) is taking a road trip to attempt to salvage what’s left of the season after a recent slide.
The team will head to College Park, Maryland, to face the Terrapins (3-13-1) at 4 p.m. today in their second to last regular-season contest.
After beginning the season 6-1, the Hawkeyes are now 7-10, coming out victorious in just one of their last 11 games. That sole win came against Purdue, which is currently 11th in the Big Ten standings. The Hawkeyes are tied with Maryland for the last spot in the conference.
After practice on Thursday, head coach Dave DiIanni said Maryland having the same conference record (1-8) had not been mentioned during the week. However, he did admit that it was most likely a thought that had surfaced among the players.
“We haven’t spoke about that, but I imagine it’s in the back of our kids’ minds,” DiIanni said. “We know that we have left some points on the board that we should have collected throughout the Big Ten season, and this is a program that is in a similar situation to us.”
Although the Hawkeyes have struggled mightily in the second half of the season, the morale still seemed high at practice on the day before the team took off for Maryland. DiIanni expressed the importance of not giving up on the individual games or the season.
“Some of what we’re looking to see against Maryland is resiliency,” he said. “Last week, we put a lot of effort, energy, and great quality of play versus Northwestern, then didn’t bounce back with a good performance and effort on Sunday against Illinois.”
Iowa lost, 1-0, to Northwestern on Oct. 14 but outplayed one of the best teams in the Big Ten for the majority of the game. Just two days later, when they played Illinois, the same effort was not there. The team came out flat on Senior Day in a 2-1 loss to the 10th-place Illini.
“We’re looking to work toward some sort of consistency,” DiIanni said. “Even though we’re young, we have had really good performances and then fallen off. We need to find something in the middle.”
Iowa and Maryland, while both 1-8 in conference, have not experienced the same ups and downs in the regular season. In fact, Maryland hasn’t experienced many ups at all. While the Hawkeyes were impressive in their quick start and then fell off, Maryland has been consistently bad throughout. They have also lost their last seven games.
The Hawkeyes have allowed 28 goals and scored 23, while Maryland has allowed 40 goals and scored just 13. On paper, Iowa seems to be the best of the worst, but statistics haven’t necessarily translated to wins for the group this year.
After Maryland, the Hawkeyes will head to Nebraska for the regular-season finale on Oct. 26. The Cornhuskers, who boast an above-.500 record both overall and in the Big Ten, surely will be a tougher matchup than Maryland.
“Records speak volumes,” DiIanni said. “And right now, we are where we are for a reason.”
