Olympic Sports Spotlight: 10/4

By erut17 on October 4, 2022 at 4:03 pm @erut17
go hawks go
@iowafieldhockey (Twitter)
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I've never been a fan of the "moral victory." Give me a poorly played win any day over an outstanding performance that ends with a loss. That said, improvement and development are key cogs for any collegiate team, and even when the full team performance isn't enough to get a win, there are often lots of good individual performances to celebrate. None of the Hawkeye athletic teams made it out of last week unscathed, but even in losses and draws, there were some performances worth highlighting. Let's take a look.

Hawkeye Highlights

  • The Iowa soccer team battled both Illinois and Michigan to draws last week. Iowa took a 1-0 lead into the half against the Illini thanks to a long-range (and I mean lonnnnnng range) goal from Sara Wheaton. Illinois bounced back in the second half to take a 2-1 lead, but the Hawks didn't quit and found the equalizer off a corner kick that Elle Otto sent into the back of the net. Iowa again jumped out to the lead against Michigan, this time thanks to a 10th-minute goal by Hailey Rydberg. Iowa nearly held the Wolverines scoreless, including a trio of great saves in quick succession in the 2nd half by Monica Wilhelm, but Michigan eventually tied the game up in the 86th minute.
    • The Hawks have been playing from the back foot often this season, so it's definitely a positive to see them start to press the issue and take early leads. Obviously, the next step is turning the leads into wins, but the Hawkeyes are certainly showing signs of progress here, and to be honest, probably deserve another win or two based on how many shots they've been putting on net all year. I would not be shocked at all to see them go on a bit of a run to end the year here.

 

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  • Iowa field hockey split their two matches over the weekend, falling 2-1 in OT to #4 Maryland before rebounding to beat #21 Rutgers 1-0. It was a heartbreaking defeat on Friday against Maryland. The Hawks drew first blood after forcing a Maryland turnover deep in their own territory. The Hawkeyes wasted no time and Alex Wesneski fired the ball into the back of the night to continue her scalding start to the year. She's definitely got the NBA JAM flame coming off her stick every time she shoots. Maryland tied the game up later on in the third quarter and eventually found the golden goal off a penalty corner in overtime. The Hawkeyes had a great chance late in the fourth quarter when a shot off the post bounced to a Hawkeye and left Maryland's goalie caught out, but the rebound shot went wide and Maryland eventually found their own winner. Iowa rebounded nicely on Sunday against Rutgers with a 1-0 win. Leah Zellner scored in the first quarter and the stout Hawkeye defense took care of the rest.
    • It was a heartbreaker Friday against Maryland, especially because the Hawkeyes played well enough to win. They controlled the field for much of the game but gave up a few sustained bursts of pressure to the Terrapins, similar to what happened against Northwestern last week. Against the Wildcats, the Hawkeye defense held up. Last week against Maryland, they weren't able to keep the Terrapins out of the net. The margin between the top 5-6 teams is so small in Field Hockey based on many of these early season matchups. Postseason success is going to come down to who's hot and who takes advantage of the limited opportunities that come up during games. Here's hoping the combination of talent and experience the Hawkeyes have proves to be the right one as the season goes on.
  • The Iowa Men's Golf team finished 12th at the Inverness Intercollegiate last week in a field that included 16 teams, including 12 ranked in the top 50. Mac McClear led the way for Iowa, shooting a 219 (+6) to finish 20th. Four of the five Hawkeyes improved on their 2nd round scores in the final round, including McClear's -2 69.
     
  • Hawkeye cross country took part in the Gans Creek Classic over the weekend with the women finishing 7th, while the men finished 6th. Emma Gordon finished 14th in the women's event with the 10th-best 6k in school history (20:53.6). Ten Hawkeye women set personal bests in the event. Max Murphy led the way for the Hawks on the men's side, finishing 4th with a personal best 23:44.8. Nick Trattner was close behind, finishing 12th. Nine Hawkeye men ran PBs at the event.
    • We've seen the success the Hawks have had on the Track and Field side and there are clear signs of improvement happening on the distance side here as the season progresses. There's still room to grow, but you can't ask for much more than a personal best.
       
  • Iowa Volleyball dropped a couple of tough matches over the weekend, three sets to none against Indiana and three sets to one against #7 Minnesota. The Hawks were a bit sloppy in Wednesday's match against Indiana. They suffered through long runs by the Hoosiers in each set and weren't able to dig themselves out of the deep holes. Against Minnesota on Sunday, the play was significantly better, even if the results were only marginally so. The Hawks passed well and were doing a good job of hanging with one of the best teams in the country. All four sets were within 8 points or fewer. Perhaps the best indicator of a team that is buying in and fighting for each other, Iowa was able to steal the third set after falling behind two sets to none. 
    • The gauntlet of the Big Ten can make for a tough year for a team still trying to build a foundation, and sometimes that manifests in a game where the team looks flat like they did against Indiana. But it's hard to be anything but optimistic after seeing the Hawks play Minnesota as tough as they did on Sunday. There's still a talent gap as we've mentioned all year, but Iowa is committed to their game plan and there's clearly buy-in from the players on the court. There are players learning new positions (Toyosi Onabanjo is moving to the right side after playing middle in previous years and totaled ten kills against Minnesota)  and being asked to do new things in old positions (the offense is predicated on running through the middles, a drastic change from prior years), but you can see things click in spurts and show those signs of potential we've been hoping to see for a long time in Iowa City. As we noted during the Volleyball spotlight, the first step is seeing these Hawks pick off sets from the top of the conference and they've done just that against Purdue and Minnesota this year. The Hawks are back in action on BTN Wednesday against Purdue.

 

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The Aftermath: Michigan

go hawks sigh

The Hybrid: Every Big Ten Football Stadium, Not Ranked

O-H-I-O
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