THIS WEEK
Iowa opens the regular season Thursday at No. 13 UCLA and Sunday at Cal Poly. The Hawkeyes and Bruins kickoff at 9 p.m. (CT) at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles.
Iowa closes its tour of the Golden State at Kellogg Stadium in San Luis Obispo, California, with a 12:30 p.m. (CT) start.
WATCH/FOLLOW LIVE
• Thursday’s game will be streamed live by the Pac-12 Network, while Sunday’s contest will be available on ESPN+.
• 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 BRUINS
• UCLA enters the season ranked No. 13 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and No. 2 in the Pac-12 Conference preseason rankings. The Bruins return eight starters from a 2021 squad that captured the program’s second consecutive conference title and finished 16-1-3 on the season.
• 2020-All American goalkeeper Lauren Bryzkcy pitched nine shutouts with a 0.55 goals against average last season. Other Bruins to watch include Reilyn Turner, who posted 10 goals and 21 points at the forward position last season, and Mexican National Team member Maricarmen Reyes, who returns 10 points to the UCLA offense.
• Head coach Margueritte Aozasa makes her head coaching debut against the Hawkeyes after a stellar run as an assistant at Stanford. From 2015-21, Aozasa helped guide the Cardinal to two NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2019, along with four Pac-12 Conference titles from 2015-19.
SERIES HISTORY – UCLA
Iowa trails 0-1-0 in the series after falling to the Bruins in the Second Round of the 2020 NCAA Tournament. The
Hawkeyes led the Bruins, 1-0, until Reilyn Turner blasted the first of two goals in the final six minutes of
regulation to send UCLA to the Sweet 16.
• Thursday’s game is a future Big Ten Conference preview, as the Bruins announced in July they were joining the conference in 2024.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
• Entering his 30th season as head coach at Cal Poly, Alex Crozier has earned five Big West Coach of the Year honors, including in 2021 as the Mustangs finished the season 13-8-0 overall and 8-2-0 in conference play. Cal Poly split the regular season conference crown with UC Irvine.
• Senior forward Nikki Trucco and senior midfielder Camille Lafaix were named to the 11-player Big West Preseason All-Conference Team released Monday.
SERIES HISTORY – CAL POLY
Sunday will be the first meeting between Iowa and Cal Poly.
Original source can be found here
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