RELATED: Soccer shuts out UC Santa Barbara

This past weekend started out wonderfully for Iowa’s soccer team; then it ran into Loyola on Sunday.The Wolves devoured the Hawkeyes, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon

The Wolves devoured the Hawkeyes, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon in a game that saw the teams combine for a lowly 14 shots.

Head coach Dave DiIanni thought Sunday’s game could serve as a lesson to his team and gives the Hawkeyes a chance to address mistakes prior to conference play.

“For us, it was an example of, hopefully, a good lesson,” he said. “We just got outplayed, and we were not prepared, and our margin for error is just not good enough. It’s too small to not be all in as a group and unfortunately, we haven’t seen that performance at a practice. We’ve had a good nonconference schedule, and it’s unfortunate we ended it this way. We are going to have to find some lessons in it and be ready to go against Nebraska next Friday.”

The Sept. 8 Senior Night game went much better for the Hawkeyes, and they beat Montana, 1-0.

“The win [Sept. 8] was fantastic,” DiIanni said. “It [gave] our kids an opportunity to play in a tight game that was physical. We lost a lot of these games last year, so we’ve won a couple of them already, and we’re making progress.”

Iowa’s lone goal came off the right foot of sophomore midfielder Natalie Winters; she sank a penalty in the 33rd minute of the game.

“I don’t think I practice [penalty kicks] that much,” Winters said. “It’s all mentality for me, going up confident. I don’t even look at the goal. I just know to place it and to finish the goal.”

Winters was awarded the penalty kick after the Griz were charged with a hand ball inside the box. The goal was her first this season and her third as a Hawkeye.

The penalty kick was the result of a first half in which the Hawkeyes dominated, outshooting the Griz 8-4.

After halftime, both teams fought back and forth, with each defense fending off blows from the opposition.

But Iowa’s defense remained unblemished and completed the shutout. Sophomore keeper Claire Graves recorded 4 saves against Montana, and she also completed her third shutout of the season.

Graves and the Hawkeye defense have been stellar so far in nonconference play.

Even with the 3 goals allowed on Sunday, Iowa has only given up 7 goals in six games this season.

So far this season, Graves has 17 saves, but she gives most of the credit for the early season success to her teammates.

“Honestly, I think it’s been a lot of cohesion in the backline,” Graves said. “They’ve been working really well and moving together; there’s a lot of communication. They’re making it very easy on me just because of how hard our backline is working at cutting off balls. I’m just having to make saves from 25 yards out.”

While the defense has held strong this season, the offensive side of the ball has lagged; for the second time in three weeks, the Hawkeyes will start the week having only managed to score 1 goal in their weekend games.Iowa doesn’t have long to fix its offensive

Iowa doesn’t have long to fix its offensive snags before conference play.

The Hawkeyes’ first conference opponent, Nebraska, will travel to Iowa City for a 7 p.m. contest on Friday at the Iowa Soccer Complex.