Nov. 5, 2007
This Week
The University of Iowa soccer team travels to Minneapolis, MN, to participate in the Big Ten Conference Tournament. The Hawkeyes kick off the meet Thursday at 11 a.m. against top-seeded Penn State.
Scouting Penn State
The Penn State Nittany Lions, ranked No. 7 in the nation, won their 10th-straight Big Ten regular-season title following a 1-0 victory at Ohio State last Friday. A Big Ten and national powerhouse, the Nittany Lions enter the postseason looking to defend their title.
Penn State is led offensively by a pair of scoring forwards in Katie Schoepfer and Aubrey Aden-Buie. The tandem have combined for 21 of Penn State’s 33 goals during the regular season.
During the regular season, the Nittany Lions edged the Hawkeyes 1-0, on October 19, in Iowa City. Aden-Buie scored the game-winning goal for Penn State.
Last Week
Against Minnesota last Friday in the regular-season finale, the Hawkeyes withstood an intense offensive attack from the Golden Gophers and left with a 1-0 victory. Junior Stephanie Hyink scored her third goal of the season and the Hawkeyes prevailed despite being outshot 18-2 during the match.
With senior Lindsey Boldt out for the season following a knee injury and freshman Kali Feiereisel unavailable for the match, freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Swanson stepped in and made three saves in her first career start and shutout.
Swanson Earns Honors
With her efforts last weekend against Minnesota, Swanson earned Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. She is sharing the honor with goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher of Penn State. Iowa’s last recipient of Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week was Britta Vogele in 2002.
Post-Season History
The Hawkeyes will return to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time in six seasons. Iowa is 0-3, all-time, at the tournament.
In 1999, the Hawkeyes were knocked off by Illinois 2-0. In 2000, Michigan dropped the Hawkeyes 2-0. The year 2001 was the last time the Hawkeyes were in the tournament, losing to Illinois 4-1.
“Buzz”-ing About
This week, the Hawkeyes remained at No. 10 in the Great Lakes region of the SoccerBuzz poll. Iowa has now been ranked five consecutive weeks.
The Hawkeyes entered the poll following a 2-1 victory over Michigan on September 30.
Tournament TV Coverage
For the first time in history, the Big Ten Network and CSTV will televise the semifinals and championship match of the Big Ten Tournament.
The semifinals will be aired on the Big Ten Network (tape-delay) at 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. Saturday. They will also re-air at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday, just before the tournament championship.
BTN will provide live coverage of the tournament championship Sunday with CSTV re-airing the contest on tape-delay at 5 p.m.
Click HERE for the Big Ten Network home page.