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SEASON RECAP
The University of Iowa soccer team capped the 2018 season with an overall record of 8-7-3 and a 4-5-2 Big Ten record.
ALL-REGION HONORS
• Junior Natalie Winters was named a third-team United Soccer Coaches All-North Region honoree. This is the first all-region honor of her career and she is the first Hawkeye to earn the distinction since 2014.
B1G HONORS
• Junior Natalie Winters earned her third straight Big Ten honor, being named third-team All-Big Ten.
• Senior Morgan Kemerling was tabbed as Iowa’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient.
• Kemerling and junior goalkeeper Claire Graves each earned Big Ten Player of the Week recognitions in 2018.
• Kemerling earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for her play against Michigan State and Michigan on Oct. 12 and Oct. 14. The senior defender played the full 180 minutes, leading the Iowa defense in holding Michigan to zero shots on goal and posting back-to-back shutouts.
• Graves earned the inaugural Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week award for her play against Missouri and Creighton on Aug. 17 and 19. She posted back-to-back shutouts to open the Hawkeye season, making 11 saves.
SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
• Drkulec was also named a 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-American first-team. The junior defender is majoring in biomedical engineering, carrying a 4.11 grade point average.
• Haus was named a 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-American second-team. She is also a biomedical engineer major with a 4.08 grade point average.
• Iowa is one of three schools nationally, with Penn State and Memphis, to have two Academic All-Americans.
• Haus and Drkulec are the first two Hawkeyes to earn Academic All-America distinction.
• Juniors Hannah Drkulec and Kaleigh Haus were named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District 6 Team.
MORE SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
• Ten Hawkeyes — Isabella Blackman, Sydney Blitchok, Devin Burns, Hannah Drkulec, Claire Graves, Kaleigh Haus, Morgan Kemerling, Rose Ripslinger, Zoey Slettehaugh, and Emma Tokuyama — were named to the 2018 Big Ten Fall Academic All-Conference team.
• Two Hawkeyes — Drkulec and Slettehaugh — posted perfect grade point averages.
TEAM AWARDS
• Junior Natalie Winters was named the Hawkeye soccer program’s MVP at the team’s end-of-the-year banquet. She was also tabbed as the team’s Offensive Player of the Year after leading Iowa in five offensive statistic categories.
• Senior Morgan Kemerling was named the team’s Defensive Player of the Year and earned the Hawk Award. This is Kemerling’s third Defensive Player of the Year honor and her second Hawk Award of her career.
• Freshman Riley Whitaker was voted as the team’s Newcomer of the Year after scoring a goal and recording an assist.
IOWA IN THE B1G
• Iowa finished ninth in the Big Ten with 1.11 goals per game.
• Winters’ 2.72 shots per game was seventh best in the conference.
• Junior Claire Graves led the Big Ten Conference with 0.46 shutouts per game, finished sixth in save percentage (.796) and goals against average (0.86), seventh in shutouts (6), and 10th in saves per game (3.30).
ETCHING INTO THE RECORDS
• Junior goalkeeper Claire Graves earned seven victories in 2018 to move to third in program history with 24 career wins.
• The Noblesville, Indiana, native posted six shutouts in 2018 to bring her career total to 17, moving her to second all-time.
• She moved to fifth in program history with 191 saves after making 43 during the 2018 season.
IN THE HUNT
• Iowa was in the hunt for a berth in the Big Ten Tournament until the final day of regular season play. After drawing, 1-1, with Northwestern Oct. 21, the Hawkeyes fell just short of making the tournament.
FEELING AT HOME
• Iowa went unbeaten at home in 2018, posting a 7-0-3 home record. This is the first time in program history the Hawkeyes have not lost at home in a season.
• The Hawkeyes allowed just four goals against at the Iowa Soccer Complex this season and scored 15 times.
SENIOR SEND OFF
• Four Hawkeye seniors — Morgan Kemerling, Rose Ripslinger, Jenna Kentgen, and Karsen Rauch — have exhausted their elgibility.
• Kemerling was a four year starter, appearing in 71 career games.
• Ripslinger battled injury throughout her career. She appeared in 44 games, tallying five goals, three assists, and 13 points.
• Kentgen parts the Hawkeye roster after missing her final two seasons because of injury. During her career at Iowa, she played in 26 games and scored two goals.
• Rauch started 14 games and saw action in 30 during her four-year Hawkeye career.
FRESHMAN FIND THEIR FOOTING
• Eight freshmen — Hailey Rydberg, Riley Whitaker, Sara Wheaton, Skylar Alward, Olivia Hellweg, Jenny Cape, Adrianna Naumoski, and Riley Burns — found their way on to the field this season.
• Two freshman — Whitaker and Wheaton — started all 18 games for Iowa.
WINTERS LEADING THE WAY
• Junior Natalie Winter scored twice against Central Michigan on Aug. 31 for her first career two-goal game.
• The junior midfielder led the Hawkeyes with five goals, three assists, 13 points, 49 shots, and 21 shots on goal. She also tallied one game-winning goal and converted both of her penalty kicks.
TOPPING A RANKED FOE
• Iowa topped No. 22 Nebraska, 2-1, in Lincoln on Oct. 5. The victory was the Hawkeye’s first win all-time against Nebraska.
• The win was the highest team the Hawkeyes have defeated since 2013 — a 1-0 win over 20th-ranked Penn State.
• Iowa has defeated ranked foe for the second straight year. The Hawkeyes downed No. 23 Rutgers, 1-0, on Oct. 5 at the Iowa Soccer Complex.
GOING THE DISTANCE
• Four Hawkeyes — Hannah Drkulec, Claire Graves, Morgan Kemerling, Sara Wheaton — played 90 or more minutes in 10 or more games this season.
• Kemerling played every minute as Iowa’s central defender in 16 of Iowa’s 18 games. She has played 90 or more minutes in 31 of Iowa’s last 36 games, including 47 straight starts.
• Freshman Sara Wheaton started all 18 games, playing 1,613 of the 1,686 minutes while tallying two assists. She played 90 or more minutes in Iowa’s last six games of 2018.
EXPERIENCE IN NET
• Junior goalkeeper Claire Graves started 12 games for the Hawkeyes. She posted a record of 7-3-2, including six shutouts.
• Redshirt sophomore keeper Cora Meyers started six games in her first extended time in the lineup. She made 18 saves and recorded a 1.64 goals against average to finish with a 1-4-1 record.
SIGNING DAY
• The Hawkeye soccer program signed an 11-player recruiting class in November. Eight of the 11 will join the program in fall of 2019.
• Three players — Samantha Cary, Samantha Cramin, and Samantha Tawharu — will join the Hawkeyes in January.
