Iowa soccer (5-4) left the pitch Sunday after being shut out for a third-straight game, falling to No. 7 Penn State, 1-0, and Ohio State, 2-0, this past weekend.

Book covers never tell the story, nor do the final scores of soccer matches. The Hawkeyes might have been held scoreless over the weekend, but it wasn’t because of a lack of opportunities.

In the Penn State game, head coach Dave DiIanni thought his team had “the four best chances in the game.” He also felt there were a few chances that should have gone in against Ohio State.

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But the “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve” game isn’t one of success, and DiIanni thinks his forward line needs to create more goal-scoring opportunities.

“We’re not good enough up front,” he said. “We’re creating enough chances to score, even though it’s not five [or] 10, its still two or three. We got to keep going back and working on scoring goals. But our forwards need to be more dangerous and much more consistent for us.”

A big key to helping the forward line is getting players healthy. Junior forward Rose Ripslinger, who missed the previous three weeks, finally saw some action in both games this weekend, but she was limited to 32 minutes.

DiIanni said the absence of Ripslinger and others has caused a “rotation mess that [he] normally [hasn’t] dealt with.”

Health is important, but maybe even more important is defending set pieces, where Iowa believes it needs to improve. The Hawkeyes were burned by Ohio State on a corner on Sunday.

“I just think set pieces we need to be more mentally engaged,” sophomore keeper Claire Graves said. “At the end of the day, that’s our downfall.”

Even with the poor results this past weekend, Sunday’s setting sun came with some optimism for the Hawkeyes.

Two fierce battles with the top two teams in the Big Ten bodes well.

“I am happy with the effort and the commitment to compete against two really strong opponents,” DiIanni said. “If this team is going to compete like this for the rest of the Big Ten season, we’re [going to] to win a lot of games.”

In both Hawkeye losses, plays could have gone either way.

In the Penn State game, Iowa had four chances that missed by inches, while in the Ohio State game, the Hawkeyes missed a chance to tie the game late with a shot from 2 yards out, but it went wide. Ohio State came right back and scored a second goal to hammer the final nail in Iowa’s coffin.

The two losses put the Hawkeyes on the bottom of the Big Ten, and they will try to start their climb up that hill in Michigan next weekend.

Iowa will make it a two-for-one visit in the Great Lake State as it plays Michigan on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor. Then, the Hawkeyes take the trip up the road to East Lansing, where they will play Michigan State on Oct. 1 at 11 a.m.