Iowa Hosts Big Ten Foes

Sept. 28, 2011

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Week Seven Notes

This Week
The University of Iowa soccer team begins a three-game home stand with Michigan Friday night. The Hawkeyes and Wolverines are scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m.

The University of Iowa Athletics Department extends a special welcome to University of Iowa students for the conference match. Students that come to cheer on the Hawkeyes can sign up to win a $50 gift card to the University Book Store.

Sunday afternoon, Michigan State travels to Iowa City for a 1 p.m. game. Girl Scout Troops from around the area will be in attendance Sunday. The first 300 troopers will get free Go Hawks sunglasses.

Fans can follow the action with Gametracker on hawkeyesports.com. Both matches will be streamed live on hawkeyesports.com via the BTN Digital Network. Hawkeye All-Access subscribers can watch live video streams of UI events on the BTN Digital Network at no extra charge.

Scouting The Opponents
Michigan duo Nkem Ezurike and Clare Stachel spearhead the Wolverine offense. Cominbed, Ezurike and Stachel have 25 of the team’s 51 points on nine goals and seven points. Seven other student-athletes have also scored for the Wolverines. Michigan’s offense has scored 18 times this season on 70 shots on goal.

Defensively, Haley Kopmeyer has played every minute in goal for the Wolverines. Kopmeyer has recorded 68 stops and five shutouts.

At the helm for the Michigan Wolverines is Greg Ryan. In his fourth year at Michigan, Ryan led the team from a 4-10-5 season in 2008 to a 10-5-4 season in 2011.

Senior Laura Heyboer and junior Olivia Stander lead Michigan State’s offense with 24 of the team’s 28 goals. Heyboer has scored 14 times this season and tallied six assists and Stander has found the net 10 times and earned seven assists.

The Spartans’ senior-sophomore combination between the posts has led them to a 9-2 record thus far, including a 2-1 mark in conference play. Senior Jill Fliestra has started eight games in goal, making 28 stops and tallying five shutouts. Sophomore Courtney Clem has three starts, nine saves and one shutout. The pair has only allowed 10 goals combined.

Head Coach Tom Saxton is in his 21st season as the head of the program. Saxton’s squad currently ranks fourth in the Big Ten standings. The veteran head coach helped to start and grow the women’s soccer program starting in 1989 as the assistant and taking the head job in 1991.

Last Week
The women’s soccer team traveled to Indiana to take on the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers.

Iowa recorded its first road conference win since 2007 after defeating Indiana 1-0 in Bloomington. Sophomore Katie Nasenbenny put the Hawkeyes ahead just before the half time break. Nasenbenny scored her fifth goal of the season when she beat a Hoosier defender one-on-one and finished from 18 yards out.

On Sunday, Iowa faced Purdue in a double-overtime match that marked the fourth consecutive trip to West Lafayette that went to extra periods.

The Hawkeyes were down 1-0 early in the game, but sophomore Leah DeMoss hit the equalizer half way through the first period. Neither team was able to find the net a second time, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

Senior Emily Moran played all minutes in goal for Iowa over the weekend. Moran recorded eight saves and only allowed one goal in 200 minutes between the posts. The senior reocrded her 31st career win and 16th shutout with the decision over Indiana.

National Recognition
Iowa is among the top-10 in the two statistical categories according to the NCAA.org’s women’s Division 1 national rankings announced Monday (Sept. 26).

Head Coach Ron Rainey’s 2011 soccer team is currently tied for seventh in the nation in scoring offense. Iowa has hit the net 33 times in 11 games, earning a 3.00 goal per game mark. The Hawkeyes are joined by Nebraska, Stephen F. Austin and Virginia at the No. 7 spot.

The team is also No. 7 in the won-lost-tied percentages. With nine wins, two draws and no losses on the season, the team has earned a .909 w-l-t percentage.

Iowa In The Big Ten Standings
Iowa’s overall record tops the teams in the Big Ten at 9-0-2. The Hawkeyes are currently the only team in the conference to have not suffered a loss.

Rainey and the team are third in the conference standings, trailing only Ohio State (7-3-1, 2-0-1) and Wisconsin (7-3-1, 2-0-1).

Making The Connection
Freshman defender Caitlin Brown will face her hometown’s Michigan Wolverines Friday night. Brown, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., has started every game for Iowa this season as a part of Iowa’s back line.

In addition to Brown, classmates Jordan Rakas and Melanie Pickert are also from the Great Lakes State. Rakas is a native of Holt, while Pickert is from Canton.

2011 By The Numbers
The women’s soccer team has started the season with a bang. The mix between experience and newcomers has been perfect, allowing Iowa to score at a record setting pace.

Iowa has put up 33 goals this season–32 among nine players and one own goal. The team trails the 1999 team for most goals in a season (49). The 1999 squad is Iowa’s most successful team in history, finishing the season 13-7-0.

The Hawkeyes are quickly gaining on the 12-year old record as they only need 16 goals to equal the mark and 17 to best it. To overtake the record, Iowa needs to score an average of 1.8 goals per game in the nine remaining games.

Lacasse Climbs Record Books
The freshman from Sudbury, Ontario, has made an impact with her aggressive play through the first half of her rookie campaign.

Lacasse earned a place on Iowa’s season goals (10) and season points (24) top-10 lists after leading Iowa’s offense through nine games.

The newcomer has played a role in 14 goals this season, scoring 10 times and earning four assists. Only Southeast Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Indiana have kept her out of the books. The three opponents were forced to focus a defensive effort on her, allowing her teammates to score five times in the three matches.

With nine games remaining, Lacasse aims for the top spot in each category, trailing Sarah Lynch in both. Lynch had 15 goals and 36 points during the 1999 season.

Hawkeyes Sets School Record
The 2011 squad is on a roll this season with a 9-0-2 start. The eight-game winning and eleven-game unbeaten streak are both bests in program history.

The Hawkeyes equaled the previous best start with a win over George Washington (Sept. 2), improving to a 4-0 record, then bested it with a 3-1 victory against American (Sept. 4).

The previous most successful start was recorded by the 2000 team. Under Head Coach Wendy Logan, the team recorded wins over UW-Green Bay (5-1), Northern Illinois (3-0), UNLV (3-0) and Utah State (2-1).

Freshman Gets Conference Nod
Lacasse was announced as the conference’s Freshman Athlete of the Week on for the second consecutive week Sept. 12.

The Sudbury, Ontario native led Iowa’s offense for the fourth week in a row, scoring three goals and recording one assist. Lacasse played a role in four of the team’s nine total goals against Iowa State and South Dakota.

Lacasse was previously named Big Ten Freshman of the Week Sept. 5. following Iowa’s wins over George Washington and American. She became the second Iowa freshman to earn the award and the only to have back-to-back honors.

Moran Sets School Record
The senior from Kent, Ohio became Iowa’s career wins leader with 24 after earning two victories vs. DePaul (Aug. 19) and SEMO (Aug. 21).

Moran topped former Hawkeye keeper Britta Vogele who collected 23 victories between 2001-04. Moran currently has 31 wins.

The senior has made 289 saves in 71 games played and recorded 16 shutouts.

Senior Earns Conference Honor
Moran was honored by the Big Ten Conference with the Defensive Player of the Week distinction Aug. 22.

Moran earned the nod for her efforts in Iowa’s shutout win over DePaul and a 2-1 defeat of SEMO. In addition to the 2-0 record thus far, Moran etched her name atop the programs all-time career wins (31).

Iowa On The Big Ten Network
In addition to the game televised live, Iowa will showcase its talent on btn.com for several games this season. The network will live stream six home games throughout the season, including Sept. 14 and 30 and Oct. 2 and 23.

Iowa made its lone appearance on the Big Ten Network when they traveled to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on Purdue. The game ended in a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes of pay.

Looking Ahead
Next week, the Hawkeyes host Minnesota in a one-game weekend. The two teams will face off under the lights with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday night.

After the home game, Iowa will be on the road for three-straight matches. Ohio State plays host Oct. 14 and Penn State welcomes the Hawkeyes Oct. 16. Following the two matches, Iowa will travel west to take on Big Ten newcomer Nebraska Oct. 20.