Iowa Soccer excited to host Thursday's top 25 showdown against #15 Penn State
All was quiet on Wednesday afternoon at the UI Soccer Complex. Practice had finished up a little while earlier and the only people remaining in the vicinity were a couple of maintenance workers painting fresh lines on the field. There was a calmness to it all, but the environment will be anything but calm on Thursday night.
#15 Penn State vs #18 Iowa under the lights in Iowa City.
A matchup unlike anything before for the Iowa Soccer program. For the first time in the 28-year history of Iowa Women’s Soccer, the Hawkeyes will host a ranked vs ranked Big Ten match.
“It just goes to show how much growth we’ve had, not just in the five years that I’ve been here, but this program in general,” said grad senior midfielder Rielee Fetty. “We’re just really grateful for the opportunity. We’re just excited to showcase what we have and put it all to the test.”
“We’ve put a lot of time and effort in to try to build this (program),” said head coach Dave Dilanni. “Success in the past few years has helped build a confidence and a belief, and we have a long way to go, but certainly we’re really excited to hopefully have a good crowd and get a good game.”
Their opponent on Thursday night, Penn State, has been a power in women’s soccer for decades. They’ve appeared in 29 straight NCAA Tournaments, including five Final Four appearances and one national championship. The Nittany Lions are the best that the Big Ten has to offer for women’s soccer.
“They’ve been a power team for a long as I can remember,” said Fetty. “I think they’re really going to bring it to us. They’re physical, they’re fast, they like to defend as a unit, so I think it’s going to be an interesting matchup. It’ll be about who’s better at their position, one on one.”
Penn State enters the match with an 8-2-1 record, including wins over #20 Saint Louis and #25 Texas Tech. The Nittany Lions have scored multiple goals in six of their 11 games, while their defense has given up just six goals all season. Offensively, PSU is led by the nation’s third-leading goal scorer, forward Kaitlyn MacBean. She has scored ten times this season upping her career total to 23 goals.
“Really good coaches. Their players they have, a lot of them are national pool players, so they’re comfortable playing in big games. They are really technically skilled, and when you give them time and space, they can be very difficult to play against,” said Dave Dilanni. “(Kaitlyn) MacBean can lull you to sleep for long periods of the game, but then when the ball gets in the box, she’s clinical.”
Although this meeting will be the first of its kind for the Hawkeyes, they’ve been able to test themselves several times against ranked teams this season. Matchups against #5 Wake Forest, #11 Ohio State and then #12 Texas have prepared them for this moment and they’ve shown that they belong on this stage.
“We are here because we deserve to be here,” said Fetty. “I think we have that mindset of we are where we are because we’ve done it ourselves, and not just because we’ve gotten lucky or something else.”
The challenge on Thursday night will be deciding when to push the tempo versus when to drop back, defend and not make careless mistakes. The two defenses have combined to allow just ten goals over 21 games played, so it’s very possible that one goal could win it for either side. It will be a chess match between both coaching staffs.
“I think it’ll be a low scoring game, with just the nature of both teams, what we do and how we defend. We’re playing a very similar system, in fact, maybe the same system, so it’ll lend itself to the matchups,” said Dilanni. “What we’ve talked about a lot is playing with some sense of urgency, but also being composed and recognizing that you can’t do that all the time, or you get out of control.”
“Both teams will be very excited to play, and you just want to get out of the first 5-10 minutes without making mistakes and then let the game settle down a bit.”
As for what Coach Dave Dilanni will say to his team prior to kickoff? It’s a simple message.
“I want them to believe in who they are. When we went on that run last year and we beat three top 15 teams in the conference tournament, there was a sense of belief and confidence that they’re pretty good too. When you believe in who you are and believe in yourself and you do it together, I think we can be as good as anybody in the country.”
Kickoff on Thursday at the Iowa Soccer Complex is set for 7:00pm CT. The match will be streamed on BTN+.
