Before the 2013 Iowa soccer season started, head coach Ron Rainey had his players go through “The Program.”

Run by a military member, it helped the Hawkeyes bond early in the season.

That November, the Hawkeyes made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and finished the season 15-7-1.

“The team had been close and like previous years was breaking through and just kind of building and getting better and better that year,” Rainey said. “My recollections are we kind of caught fire in October and it built through the conference tournament.”

It was the third consecutive season that the Hawkeyes had double-digit victories. But what was different about the 2013 season from the two previous seasons was that when the Hawkeyes made the Big Ten Tournament, they won two games there. Two ranked teams.

In the quarterfinals, Iowa upset No. 7 Michigan, 1-0, and then in the semifinals against No. 20 Penn State did the exact same thing. It was the second time the team defeated Penn State that season.

Though Iowa lost to No. 18 Nebraska, 1-0, in the championship round, the team knew it was going to the NCAA Tournament.

The next day, their belief was confirmed.

“I think [we were] excited and exhausted because back then you played in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at the same complex,” Rainey said.

Iowa faced No.23 Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Though the Hawkeyes scored a penalty kick early on, the Fighting Irish roared back late in the first half to score two goals, later winning the game, 4-1.

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“I think if we could have gotten to halftime up 1-0, it would have helped quite a bit and allowed us to just try to make it a 45-minute game,” Rainey said. “But on that day Notre Dame was just better than us but that didn’t take anything away at all for how that team performed all year and got to the NCAA.”

To begin that season, the Hawkeyes started non-conference play 8-0, just like 2019’s NCAA Tournament team. One of the most impressive wins of that stretch was a 3-0 victory over Iowa State in Iowa City.

“Our players got fired up for that game,” Rainey said “There was always a good crowd and great energy to it. It’s almost the energy you had in a Big Ten game.”

The Hawkeyes had some outstanding players in 2013. Junior forward Cloe Lacasse led the team in points with 19. She now plays professionally in Portugal. Rainey, who currently coaches at Dartmouth, said she was one of the most talented strikers he’s coached.

Defender Mel Pickert, another junior, led the team in goals at seven, and shared the backfield with longtime teammate Katie Brown.

Hannah Clark, a sophomore, was the only goalkeeper that played for the Hawkeyes that season and gave up 1.07 goals per game.

It took until Rainey’s eighth and final season as Iowa head coach to make the NCAA Tournament. After the 2013 season he accepted the Dartmouth job and has won 50 games at the school in the six seasons since.

But Rainey remembers how the 2013 team came together to produce a great season.

“Just from years of just building and working hard together and being around each other,” Rainey said. “I think that’s the type of department that I think that [Iowa Athletics Director] Gary Barta did a great job of putting together. Trying to find people who would find players who wanted to represent Iowa. And I know Gary always said that to us and it’s something that I’ll always remember and tried to do during my time.”