Notebook: Hawkeyes Host Iowa State, Travel to Kansas

THIS WEEK
Iowa kicks off the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series on Thursday with its home opener against Iowa State. Kick is set for 6:04 p.m. (CT) at the Iowa Soccer Complex. Admission is free. The Hawkeyes take on another Big 12 opponent on Sunday with a 1 p.m. (CT) match against Kansas at Rock Chalk Park.

WATCH/FOLLOW LIVE

• Thursday’s game will be broadcast live on BTN and available on the FOX Sports mobile app. Connor Onion and Kayla Sharples will call the action for BTN.
• Links to streaming and live stats can be found at hawkeyesports.com/soccergameday.
• Fans can follow the Iowa soccer program on Twitter (@HawkeyeSoccer) for live in-game updates.

SCOUTING THE CYCLONES

• Head Coach Matt Fannon is in his second season at the helm of Cyclone Soccer. Iowa State finished 3-6-4 last season and was picked to place eighth in the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll this fall.
• Hawkeye graduate transfer Courtney Powell was Iowa State’s top offensive weapon last spring, leading the team in points (8), goals (4), shots (29) and shots on goal (23). She will be on the other side of the CyHawk series for the first time Thursday.
• The Cyclones opened the season with a 2-0 win at UC Santa Barbara and a 2-1 loss at CSUN.

SERIES HISTORY – IOWA STATE

• The Hawkeyes are 13-7-2 against the Cyclones. Iowa won the last meeting 2-1 in 2019.
• The Hawkeyes have won 10 of the last 12 meetings.
• Iowa has won six straight at home against Iowa State. The Hawkeyes have outscored the Cyclones 13-2 over those six games. The last time Iowa did not defeat the Cyclones at home was a 0-0 tie in 2007.

IOWA CORN CY-HAWK SERIES
The Cy-Hawk Series is in its 17th season in 2021-22, being sponsored for the 10th time by Iowa Corn.

Iowa’s corn farmers are proud to sponsor the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series to celebrate our great state and the sports rivalry that unites us all. The Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board partner with Learfield on behalf of both Iowa State University and University of Iowa Athletic Departments for the title sponsorship of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.

The Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series tracks the head-to-head match-ups between the Cyclones and Hawkeyes with each victory earning points toward the overall series championship.

The series awards two points (except football, which is worth three) to the winning school in each head-to-head match-up between the two institutions. Additionally, one point is awarded to an institution if the graduation rate of its student-athletes is greater than the national average as reported each fall by the NCAA.

Iowa captured the inaugural Cy-Hawk Series in 2004-05 (13-8), and won again in 2006-07 (13-8), 2008-09 (21-4), 2010-11 (15-11), 2012-13 (17-9), 2016-17 (20-7), and 2018-19 (15-10).

Iowa State won the competition in 2005-06 (13-8), 2007-08 (18-9), 2009-10 (16-11), 2011-12 (17-11), 2013-14 (14-11), 2014-15 (15-11), 2017-18 (14-13), and in 2019 (13-8). The Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series was paused during 2020-21 as Covid-19 restrictions prevented the teams from meeting in head to head match ups.

A commemorative Cy-Hawk Series Cup, which stands 31 inches tall and weighs 19 pounds, is displayed on the winning team’s campus for an entire year after a victory. Replica cups are also presented as “traveling trophies” for individual victorious teams in the head-to-head competition.                Iowa Corn is proud to sponsor the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series because it’s a tribute to the hard-working student athletes who give it their all in their sport and fields of study. Just like hard-working Iowa farmers who work to produce some of the best corn in the world.

It’s more than a series. IT’S EVERYTHING.

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS 

• Kansas opened the regular season with a 0-0 tie against Drake and a 1-0 loss to Wisconsin. The Jayhawks outshot Drake 19-3.
• Goalkeeper Brie Severns registered 15 saves through two games.
• Kansas was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll. The Jayhawks finished 6-4-3 last season. Coach Mark Francis has led the program to nine NCAA Tournaments and 17 Big 12 Championship Tournaments.

SERIES HISTORY – KANSAS

• Iowa is 1-2-0 against Kansas, falling to the Jayhawks in the 2019 NCAA Tournament first round in their most recent meeting.
• The Hawkeyes’ lone win in the series was a 5-1 victory at home in 1998.

GETTING THINGS ROLING
Freshman Kenzie Roling has scored in every contest this season. Roling scored the tying goal against DePaul and the game-winner against No. 18 Saint Louis, as well as notching goals in each of Iowa’s exhibition wins. Her two regular season goals came on four shots, and her four points lead the team heading into Week 2.

WHO’S IN GOAL?
Sophomore Macy Enneking was the only unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection last season and earned Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Defensive Player accolades for allowing just one goal in four games at the conference tournament. She tallied 52 saves across 11 games and averaged a conference-best .912 save percentage, allowing just 5 goals in 956 minutes played. The Hilliard, Ohio native pitched shutouts in each of Iowa’s two exhibition contests this preseason.

Enneking sat out last week due to injury. Redshirt junior Monica Wilhelm filled in without issue, grabbing four saves and helping lead the Hawkeyes to a shutout victory against No. 18 Saint Louis.

ROLING, WHEATON EARN BIG TEN WEEKLY HONORS
Freshman Kenzie Roling and senior Sara Wheaton were recognized as the Big Ten’s freshman and defensive players of the week, the conference office announced Aug. 24.

Roling, a freshman from Waverly, Iowa, scored goals in each of Iowa’s wins last week at DePaul and St. Louis. Her first-half goal against the Blue Demons evened the score 1-1 and her first-half goal against the Billikens proved to be the game-winner in a 1-0 Hawkeye win. Including Iowa’s preseason exhibitions, Roling has scored in each of the Hawkeyes’ four games. Following last week’s performance, she was also an honorable mention on TopDrawerSoccer’s Team of the Week.

Roling is the first Iowa freshman to score in consecutive matches since Oct. 3-5, 2008, when Alyssa Cosnek scored in wins over Indiana and North Dakota State (Cosnek also scored in each of Iowa’s first two matches that season, the last Hawkeye rookie to score in the team’s opening two contests)

Wheaton, a senior team captain from Chandler, Arizona, played all 90 minutes in both wins last week, leading a defense that allowed just one score and five shots on goal. The Hawkeyes shutout a nationally ranked Billikens team that was held scoreless just two times in 17 games last season.

The weekly conference honors are career firsts for Roling and Wheaton.

EARLY SEASON NEED-TO-KNOW

• The Hawkeyes are receiving votes in the 2021 NCAA Division I rankings released Aug. 24
• Three Hawkeyes — Hailey Rydberg, Sara Wheaton, and Samantha Cary — were named to the

Big Ten Preseason Honors List. Iowa was picked to finish seventh out of 14 teams in the preseason

coaches’ poll.

• Seniors Sara Wheaton and Hailey Rydberg were voted team captains this season.
• Head coach Dave DiIanni is in his eighth season at the helm of the soccer program. Last spring, DiIanni’s team posted a 7-9-1 record, finishing the season on a red-hot postseason run that saw the Hawkeyes win the program’s first Big Ten Tournament title and reach the NCAA Tournament Second Round for the first time in school history. Iowa lost just one senior from that youthful squad heading into this season.
• Over the past two seasons, Iowa has made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history.
• Last spring, the Hawkeyes lost two-time Iowa Offensive Player of the Year Devin Burns and veteran goalkeeper Claire Graves but discovered a group of new young playmakers as the season continued. Sophomore Meike Ingles closed out her rookie campaign with four postseason goals, earning Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors. Sophomore Macy Enneking was named the conference tournament Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and was an unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection.
• Those two headline a group of impactful underclassmen this season, though the team also features a robust class of nine senior leaders anchored by midfielder Hailey Rydberg, who was a captain last season and voted the team’s Most Valuable Player. Senior Sara Wheaton is the returning Iowa Defensive Player of the Year.
• The Hawkeyes welcome nine newcomers in 2021, including seven freshmen and two graduate transfers. Courtney Powell was Iowa State’s top offensive weapon last spring, leading the team in points (8), goals (4), shots (29) and shots on goal (23). She is joined by Alyssa Walker, who scored four goals for Richmond last season and previously earned second-team Atlantic-10 All-Conference honors in 2019.

LAST GAME
The Hawkeyes opened the regular season with a pair of road wins at DePaul and No. 18 Saint Louis. Iowa dropped a goal in the opening minutes against the Blue Demons before rallying to a 2-1 lead at the half. The Hawkeye defense pitched a shutout in the second half to seal the win before holding Saint Louis scoreless for the 1-0 win. Freshman Kenzie Roling knocked in the tying goal against DePaul as well as the winning score against the Billikens. Forward Courtney Powell scored the go-ahead goal against the Blue Demons just before the half.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
After having one of the youngest teams in the nation last spring, the Hawkeyes boast a veteran senior class. Nine seniors will provide leadership and production on both sides of the ball. The class scored six of Iowa’s 11 goals last season while defenders Sara Wheaton and Riley Whitaker helped lead Iowa to seven shutouts. Other returning seniors include defender Riley Burns, midfielders Hailey Rydberg, Olivia Hellweg, and Josie Durr, as well as forwards Samantha Tawharu, Jenny Cape, and Skylar Alward. Graduate transfers Courtney Powell and Alyssa Walker also bring experience to the squad.

CHECK OUT THE NEW DIGS
The new soccer operations facility at the Iowa Soccer Complex is up and running. The $4 million facility is located behind the west sideline and includes a spacious locker room and lounge area, multi-purpose space, athletic training space, visiting team and multipurpose locker rooms, and a press box. Construction of the new facility was funded entirely by private support.