“I think everybody (in the Big Ten) is pretty good this year,” sophomore midfielder Kristen Henn said. “I think that all the teams have really talented players, and coming off of last year, everybody lost some people, but they also got people stepping up.”

Last season, the Spartans took down the Hawkeyes 3-0 in the regular season when they traveled to Iowa City, Iowa. The two teams met again in the semifinal of the Big Ten Tournament, where MSU came out on top again, winning 5-1.

However, in the 2008-09 season, the Hawkeyes topped the Spartans in the regular season (4-3), in the Big Ten tournament (3-2) and in the NCAA Tournament (1-0). The teams’ all-time series record is 45-11-1 in favor of Iowa.

Senior midfielder Angela Pagura said that although Iowa is a young team with 14 of its 17 players being freshmen or sophomores, she still expects the game to be a “dog fight” because they are considered rivals within the conference.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Henn said. “They’re always a really good team, and it’s going to be pretty physical out there. If we just play our game, hopefully we’ll stay strong. As long as we work together and work on our passes and play simple field hockey, I think we should be good to go.”

This season, MSU has gone into each game focused on its own play and maintaining possession of the ball as opposed to focusing on the opponent. The Spartans said they intend to carry this mentality through their Big Ten season.

“Iowa seems to be the weakest team in the Big Ten on paper,” head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. “But the Big Ten is the Big Ten, and everybody will give each other a good fight. We have to be prepared, and we have to once again execute our own game plan because it’s what we know we can do best.”

Ohio State (6-2) and Penn State (5-3) are the only other ranked Big Ten teams, at No. 6 and No. 14, respectively.

The Buckeyes’ midfielder Aisling Coyle leads the Big Ten in average goals per game (1.12) and is second in total points with 19. Midfielder Aisling McKeon and forward Berta Queralt each have 10 assists on the season, leaving them tied for first in the category.

“Michigan will be good too, but we just need to take it one game at a time,” senior forward Jantine Steinmetz. “Right now, it’s Iowa, so our focus will be on that.”