Iowa soccer suffers first losses of season

Iowa soccer couldn’t get the job done against Iowa State and Wyoming, taking its first losses of the season in close games.

Iowa+forward+Kaleigh+Haus+wins+a+header+during+Iowas+game+against+Central+Michigan+on+Friday%2C+Aug.+31%2C+2018.+The+Hawkeyes+defeated+the+Chippewas+3-1.

Nick Rohlman

Iowa forward Kaleigh Haus wins a header during Iowa’s game against Central Michigan on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. The Hawkeyes defeated the Chippewas 3-1.

Michael Whalen, Sports Reporter

The Hawkeye soccer team took on Iowa State on Sept. 7 to kick off the Cy-Hawk Series, with the Cyclones coming out on top, 2-1. The loss was the first for the Hawkeyes, but on Sept. 9, they tripped again, 1-0 to Wyoming.

Iowa State struck first in the match, scoring its first goal in the seventh minute and second goal in the 35th. The Cyclones also managed to hold the Hawkeyes scoreless in the first half. The Hawkeyes had an opportunity in the 31st minute, but Cyclone goalkeeper Dayja Schwichtenberg saved the goal. The Hawkeyes started the second half on fire, and Kaleigh Haus scored in the first minute to bring Iowa to a 1-goal deficit. The Hawkeyes couldn’t keep the flame going, though; they continued to apply good pressure, but they could not put the ball in the back of the net.

They outshot the Cyclones, 10-6, but good goalkeeping by Schwichtenberg kept the Hawkeyes out of it.

“There’s great disappointment in our locker room right now losing tonight’s game,” Iowa head coach Dave DiIanni said in a release. “The team played very well in all areas except winning the set-piece battle, and unfortunately, that was too much to overcome. This is a group that continues to improve and get better every day, and we will do that once again from tonight.”

The team played well in the second half; Iowa tied the Cyclones, applied good defensive pressure, and made smart offensive plays. The second half seemed to be one of the Hawkeye strengths.

Iowa continued its weekend road trip with a game at Wyoming on Sunday. The Hawkeyes suffered their second loss of the season, bringing their overall record to 4-2-1.

Wyoming may have won the game, but the Hawkeyes outshot the Cowgirls, 14-7. Wyoming’s goal came in the middle of the first half when Taylor Burton scored on a penalty shot. Besides that, both teams played well defensively and had some difficulty on offense.

The Hawkeyes dominated the second half, holding the Cowgirls to only 1 shot. In the last seven minutes, freshmen Sara Wheaton took 2 shots, but both drifted wide.

The Hawkeyes will need to rally around their second-half performance from the Wyoming game. They start Big Ten play this week. They went 4-5-2 in conference play last year, and they want to change that this season.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, because next weekend, we start the Big Ten portion of the schedule in arguably the deepest conference we’ve seen in years,” DiIanni said in a release. “Getting back to work and getting better is the only answer.”