Iowa soccer aims to bounce back from its loss to Notre Dame over the weekend in its game tonight against Southern Utah.

Head coach Dave DiIanni believes this game is a chance to regain a bit of momentum his team had before the Hawkeyes’ loss on Sunday.

“I think this is probably one of the most important games for us,” he said. “Every time you have a game off a loss, it’s how you react to that. Our ball movement has to be fast, and our energy has got to be high. We have to be very lethal in the attacking area of the field to be able to score goals.”

In the Notre Dame game, Iowa had a few chances to score but was never able to get the ball in the back of the net.

“We needed quality in the final third,” senior Karly Stuenkel said. “We needed to get the final pass and finishing. You can’t win games if you don’t score goals.”

Scoring goals is certainly an important facet of soccer, and after scoring just once in their last two games, the Hawkeyes have spent this week working on offense.

“We’re just trying to improve our mentality in scoring more goals,” sophomore Natalie Winters said. “I think the final hustle play [is the key to score more] and just always finishing the ball when you have the chances because those chances won’t always come.”

The Hawkeyes’ lack of scoring hasn’t been because of a lack of chances; this past weekend, they had 25 shots in both games combined.

Some of the problems scoring may come from a number of forwards being relatively inexperienced — all three starting forwards were sophomores in the loss against Notre Dame.

The other reason for the lack of goals could be the teams Iowa has faced. Iowa State is a team known to focus on defending, and Notre Dame is a soccer powerhouse.

DiIanni believes a number of things could be key to helping the Hawkeyes score more goals.

“I think sometimes it’s spacing, sometimes it’s making the right pass,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s being a little bit more selfish and recognizing that you’re the best player on the ball, and they need to shoot instead of pass, because I think our shot total has to be higher.”

One positive from last weekend was the Iowa defense. The Hawkeyes allowed just 2 goals, making sure they were always in the game.

Iowa sophomore goalkeeper Claire Graves recorded a season-high 6 saves against Notre Dame.

The Hawkeyes hope that tonight will provide a good chance for some offense; Southern Utah is 0-3 to start the season.

In the Thunderbirds’ last two games, they have allowed 8 goals while only netting 2.