Ahead of final homestand, No. 12 Iowa women’s soccer determined to play its best matches this season

IOWA CITY — Iowa women’s soccer fans watched the number of shots on goal soar higher and higher against Michigan. The Hawkeyes nearly doubled their shots on goal within the first few minutes of the second half.

It still stayed a tied game.

No. 12 Iowa (8-2-3, 3-1-2 Big Ten) has just two regular-season home matches left on its schedule, hosting Maryland and No. 14 Michigan State on Thursday and Saturday. From there, any chance of returning to the Iowa Soccer Complex is entirely in the Hawkeyes’ hands.

“We’re hoping to play in two more tournaments,” head coach Davie DiIanni said. “Then, if we can do enough, we can maybe host something. We've had a good year, and we're hoping to have continue that. So we want the seniors continuing to lead us by example and enjoying the experience before it's over.”

After this weekend, Iowa plays its final three games on the road before the Big Ten Championship, starting at Purdue and the championship being played in St. Louis. If the Hawkeyes want to find a home game after this weekend, they’ll have to host a regional for the NCAA tournament.

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To get there, DiIanni wants his 12th-ranked team to play with a fearless edge — particularly with its offense. Having 21 shots and six corners against the Wolverines was a start, but it was still just a 1-1 draw.

“We're right now just not clinical enough,” DiIanni said. “We're not ruthless enough in the box. I think we're missing a lot of opportunities to be able to make life a bit easier for us, but I do like how we played. We need some of our attacker players to be a bit more aggressive, a bit more ruthless, to be able to make the game a little easier for us.”

The Hawkeyes are a mature team this season, too. Despite players like Abby Warner and Meike Ingles both being out with injury, Iowa still has a total eight graduate students and three seniors.

That also adds fuel to the fire for another home game, too.

“I think just every game in the Big Ten is very difficult to win and get a point out of,” midfielder Sofia Bush said. “So I think just going out there and competing to the best of our abilities and just showing every team.”

The most encouraging part of it all for DiIanni is he feels the Hawkeyes haven’t played their best game this season. Even with an early season upset over Nebraska and nearly toppling TCU weeks later, he wants to see the forwards finish plays in the box and have the defense put together a shutout.

Doing it in front of the Hawkeye fans, knowing 11 players will say goodbye-for-now this weekend, that’s how DiIanni wants to end the year at the Iowa Soccer Complex.

“We still haven't quite played a complete game,” DiIanni said. “And some of that could be the details in the tactics, and some of that could be, again, being a bit more, you know, competitive and ruthless in the box and taking our chances better.”

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