Soccer, field hockey, and volleyball all went on road trips this week. It went better for some teams than others, frankly.
SOCCER? I HARDLY KNOW 'ER. We'll start with the soccer Hawks, who had the most successful week of the teams profiled here. Their week began on Tuesday, with a 2-1 OT home win over in-state rivals UNI. The win was their third straight overtime triumph over the Panthers. Bri Toelle put Iowa on the board in the first half with her second goal of the season, but Hannah McDevitt equalized for UNI partway through the second half. Neither side could grab a winner in regulation, but Karly Stuenkel grabbed the winner for Iowa a few minutes into overtime. Iowa enjoyed a 17-13 edge in shots and a 9-6 edge in shots on goal. Hannah Clark wasn't able to keep a clean sheet, but did make five saves.
Iowa then headed on the road for a pair of games in Missoula, MT this weekend. They took the first game of the road trip, 2-1, over Utah State on Friday to push their record to 4-0. Iowa started poorly, conceding a goal to Utah State in the third minute of the game. The Hawkeyes found their shooting boots in the second half, though, and bombarded the Aggies with 15 shots (albeit just six on target). Iowa finally got their breakthrough in the 60th minute, when Bri Toelle converted a penalty to tie the game. A minute later, Toelle went from scorer to provider, assisting on a Brooke Backes goal to put Iowa up 2-1. That was the end of the scoring, but that was enough for Iowa to pull out a victory.
Unfortunately, Iowa's unbeaten start to the season came to a halt this morning, as Iowa dropped a 1-0 result to Montana. The game was deadlocked at 0-0 for a long time, but the Grizz finally broke through with a goal in the 73rd minute. Iowa's inability to score wasn't for lack of effort -- they launched 19 shots on the Montana goal, including 9 shots on goal. Alas, Iowa was not able to get anything past Montana goalkeeper Kailey Norman. Iowa returns home with a 1-1 record on the road trip and a 4-1 record overall. They host Iowa State on Friday and Illinois Chicago on Sunday.
SQUASH THOSE SPIDERS. The Iowa field hockey team headed on the road in the opposite direction -- they went to Harrisonburg, VA, for a pair of games with Richmond and James Madison. The weekend got off to a good start for Iowa -- they squashed Richmond, 5-1. Stephanie Norlander got Iowa off to a fast start, scoring a goal just 2:30 into the game. The Spiders tied the game at 1-1 shortly after that, but it was all Iowa from then on. Makenna Grewe and JoElla Guagliardo poured in goals of their own to give Iowa a 3-1 lead at the break. Grewe and Norlander added another pair of goals for Iowa in the second half, locking up the 5-1 victory.
Iowa's second game in Virginia didn't go nearly as well, though. Iowa lost, 4-1, to James Madison earlier today. The Iowa offense that was rampant on Friday was subdued today, mustering just two shots in the first half (James Madison had eight shots and scored three goals to take a 3-0 lead into the break). Iowa's offense was more effective in the second half -- they generated seven shots and scored a goal, but it was too little too late. JMU iced the game with their fourth goal late in the second half. Iowa stands at 2-2 after the first two weeks of the season and heads home for a busy week -- they have three games next week, starting with a daunting visit from #6 Stanford on Thursday (Iowa entertains Kent State and Saint Louis on Saturday and Sunday.)
FROM HAWAII, WITH LOVE. Iowa volleyball traveled further than any other Iowa team this weekend -- they headed to Hawaii for a trio of games against some stiff competition in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic. The third and final match of the trip is later tonight, but the first two matches haven't gone well for Iowa. Iowa dropped the first match, 3-1, against #17 Hawaii. The match started off well -- Iowa stunned the Rainbow Warriors and won the first set, 25-18. Iowa kept it tight in the remaining sets, but wasn't able to come out on top in any of them, losing 20-25, 18-25, and 21-25. Lauren Brobst paced the Iowa offense with 14 kills, while Hawaii native Loxley Keala handed out 26 assists to lead the way in her homecoming.
Iowa had even less success in their second match, dropping a three-set defeat to #25 UCLA. UCLA won the first set, 25-20, and increased their margin of victory in each subsequent set, winning 25-16 and 25-13. UCLA's offense was clicking in the match, while Iowa's... wasn't. Taylr McNeil and Jess Janota led Iowa with 6 kills apiece, while Keala again paced Iowa with 21 assists. It was a disappointing result after the spirited battle Iowa gave Hawaii and it dropped the Hawkeyes to 2-3 on the season. They wrap up tournament action with a match against American at 7:30 PM CT tonight. Like Iowa, American lost their first two matches of the tournament (also against Hawaii and UCLA).
RUN, HAWKEYES, RUN. Iowa's fall cross country season got underway this weekend at the Early Bird Invitational in Iowa City, although neither the men nor the women came out on top in the event. The men, running the 6000 meters, finished last in their group of four. The top individual finishers were Ben Anderson and Michael Melchert, who finished 14th and 15th. There was some good news for the Iowa men, though: true freshman Ian Eklin, competing unattached to preserve his redshirt, finished 3rd overall in the event, so there's some help coming for Iowa.
The women, running the 3000 meters, finished third in their group of four. (Iowa State finished first in both the men's and women's events.) Madison Waymire, a transfer from Missouri, was Iowa's top individual finisher, placing 5th. Iowa State athletes took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the event. Iowa returns to action this weekend at the Illinois State Invitational in Normal, Ill.
Watch a video recap of tonight's Early Bird Invitational cross country meet: http://t.co/byQKmJuS3h
— Iowa XC T&F (@IowaXC_TF) September 5, 2015
GOLF WATCH. The fall golf season is about to get underway and the Big Ten has released Players to Watch lists for men's and women's golf. Amy Ihm, Jessie Sindlinger, and Jessica Ip were the players singled out on the women's side; Sindlinger and Ihm had two of the three best scoring averages on the team during their spring season last year. Nate Yankovich, Raymond Knoll, and Carson Schaake were the honorees on the men's side. Yankovich had four top-20 finishes last year and competed at the U.S. Amateur this summer. Knoll earned second-team All-Big Ten honors last season and had the second best scoring average on the team. Schaake was individual champion honors at the Big Ten Tournament last spring and was named first-team All-Big Ten and led the team in scoring average. Both teams begin their fall seasons next weekend -- the women host the Diane Thomason Invitational in Iowa City on Saturday and Sunday, while the men head to Minneapolis for the Gopher Invitational on Sunday and Monday.
IOWA SPORTS CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK
(all times Central)
9/7: none
9/8: none
9/9: none
9/10: #17 Iowa vs #6 Stanford (field hockey; Iowa City, IA)
9/11: Iowa vs Milwaukee (volleyball; Iowa City, IA), Iowa vs Iowa State (volleyball; Iowa City, IA), Iowa vs Iowa State (soccer; Iowa City, IA), Iowa vs DMACC (softball; Iowa City, IA), Illinois State Invitational (cross country; Normal, Ill)
9/12: #17 Iowa vs Kent State (field hockey; Iowa City, IA), Iowa vs Texas A&M (volleyball; Iowa City, IA), Diane Thomason Invitational (women's golf; Iowa City, IA)
9/13: Iowa vs Illinois Chicago (soccer; Iowa City, IA), Iowa vs Saint Louis (field hockey; Iowa City, IA), Diane Thomason Invitational (women's golf; Iowa City, IA), Gopher Invitational (men's golf; Minneapolis, MN)