By Colleen O’Connell

The Iowa Hawkeyes have been selected as the first Onyx/Riddell Lacrosse MCLA Team of the Week for the 2008 season. Iowa went 2-1 Feb. 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark., in order to have its best start in recent years. Additionally, both of the Hawkeyes’ wins were important divisional victories as Iowa also begins the season 2-0 in the GRLC I-AA.

First-year head coach Zak Katz inherited a team that had gone 2-8 and 3-9 in the last two seasons. The fact that Iowa combined for five wins in the last two seasons did not keep the Hawkeyes, who were 2-3 in fall ball competition under Katz, from thinking that they could rack up three wins in Arkansas.

“The mentality of the team was to come away with three wins, but I think some of the guys were trying to be realistic and hoping for one,” said first-year head coach Zak Katz. “The guys on this team haven’t started the season with a win against a Division I opponent.”

The Hawkeyes survived a late Ole Miss rally in order to win their first game 9-8.

“I was telling the guys ‘If we have the ball, they can’t score,’” said Katz.

Despite hanging tough with Missouri State, Iowa was hurt by several second-half penalties, including a three-minute nonreleasable stick violation and a pair of penalties that put the Hawkeyes two-men down. Missouri State took advantage of the three-minute penalty, scoring four goals in three minutes.

“Right away, we were down,” Katz noted.

“Our goalie, Matt Hanson, played his best game against Missouri State. He had some great point-blank saves,” Katz added.

Iowa bounced back on Feb. 10 with a 10-9 come-from-behind overtime victory over Arkansas. The Razorbacks held a 9-8 lead until Iowa’s Max Polen scored the game-tying goal with 45 seconds to go. However, the Hawkeyes lost the ensuing face-off and then had a one-minute penalty called against them with 25 seconds left. Iowa hung in for the last 25 seconds of regulation in order to force overtime. Craig Millspaugh scored the game-winner as the Hawkeyes posted their second win of the weekend.

“We fought hard,” said Katz. “I had pulled Craig aside and he had a good shot all weekend; he just needed the confidence to score and to know that he could score.

“The whole team celebrated,” Katz remembered about Millspaugh’s game-winner.

Iowa is back in action this weekend when it travels to Columbia, Mo. for two games. The Hawkeyes face Missouri Baptist on Feb. 16 and then Missouri Feb. 17.

For being selected as the Onyx/Riddell Lacrosse MCLA Team of the Week, Iowa Lacrosse will receive a prize pack from Onyx/Riddell Lacrosse, including one Riddell XR Lacrosse Helmet customized in Iowa’s team colors.

Riddell Lacrosse helmets are exclusively distributed by Onyx Lacrosse. For more information on Onyx Lacrosse equipment and the Riddell Lacrosse helmet, please visit http://www.OnyxLacrosse.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 7:05 am and is filed under GRLC, MCLA News, Team of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.