Soccer hits road to play Loyola-Chicago
Teams generally have to pay people to scout their opponents. The Iowa soccer team doesn't.
Instead, the Hawkeyes can rely on sophomore midfielder Allie Adam, who — at least this weekend — can provide them with all the information they need.
Iowa (2-1-0) will play Loyola-Chicago (0-4-0) tonight in the Windy City. Adam, who transferred from the school after one year with the Ramblers, is intimately aware of her former team's strengths and weaknesses.
"[Loyola is] pretty strong defensively, but we have some good forwards," the Omaha native said. "They always work hard, and they're a team that can surprise you on any given day. They haven't had a great start, but they can surprise a team.
"I have a few ideas I think could really help us out."
Whether the team will actually need the help is debatable. Iowa pounded Loyola, 4-1, when the teams met last year.
More recently, the Hawkeyes scored three goals in last weekend's two shutout wins over Northern Illinois and Central Michigan.
While Iowa's offense has been rolling, Loyola's has been stagnant. The Ramblers have scored just one goal thus far.
Iowa head coach Ron Rainey said the Hawkeyes know they will be challenged despite Loyola's ugly record.
"They have a lot of technical, skillful players that — with time and space — can put you under pressure," Rainey said. "They can connect passes. We need to have a really high tempo against them and be able to match their possession to try to break their back line down."
Directing the tempo will be the primary responsibility of attacking midfielder Morgan Showalter.
The junior from Cedar Rapids is the linchpin of Iowa's attack, and she stressed the importance of playing as a cohesive unit.
"Goals for the weekend are to improve on the mistakes we made [last weekend] and to capitalize on those small, little things to make the score larger than just a 1-0 game," she said. "Staying connected in the midfield, staying connected in the back line, getting the runs and timing down for the forwards — just keeping all of us connected as one team."
A unified team could lead to the Iowa offense having a big game — Loyola has given up at least two goals in each of its losses, including a 5-0 thrashing by Creighton on Aug. 29 — but Rainey cautioned against overlooking the Ramblers. This weekend marks the first time this season Iowa will play in a road environment, and Loyola's artificial turf is something the Hawkeyes have little experience with.
"It's not as effective to play balls over the top of defenses. You definitely have to possess in front of a back line before trying to play balls through seams. The field's a little bit faster. We play out here on grass, but [before the game] we'll get a short little walk through on their field just so the players get to see the speed of the field."
Adam admitted the game holds a special degree of importance to her but also said her goals remain the same no matter who the opponent is.
"It'll be weird, [being] on the other side of things," she said. "I don't think it's necessarily nerves, I think it'd be more excitement and more incentive to play well. [I just want] to win — to score and to win. That's about it."
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