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Breaking down the 2026 Iowa Soccer Schedule

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann05/29/26HuesmannKyle

A rising program in the Big Ten under head coach Dave Dilanni, the Iowa Soccer program enters a new era this season. After 12 seasons as head coach of the Hawkeyes, Dilanni took the Michigan job in the offseason, while former Xavier head coach Dean Ward takes over after two seasons in Cincinnati with the Muskateers. A program that has really only seen success under Dilanni’s watch, the Hawkeyes have made three consecutive NCAA trips, including their first ever Sweet Sixteen trip in 2024. Now, Dean Ward will look to keep the momentum going and assert the Hawkeyes as a consistent threat in one of the toughest conference the entire country.

HawkeyeReport breaks down the 2026 slate of games for the Hawkeyes, looking at the highlights from the non-conference and Big Ten portions of the schedule.

Non-Conference Matches

August 12: vs Milwaukee, April 15: vs Loyola-Chicago, August 20: at Wake Forest, August 23: at UNC-Greensboro, August 27: at Iowa State, September 3: vs Kansas State, September 6: vs Missouri State

Over the last couple of years, the Hawkeyes have challenged themselves in the non-conference portion of the schedule. This season, there’s still a couple of tough games, but it is an easier slate than recent years. Some of that could be due to the fact that the Big Ten, a conference that has put 19 in the NCAA Tournament over the past two years, has added a game, making it a 12-game conference schedule.

They’ll open the regular season with one of two non-conference opponents that made NCAA’s last year, hosting Milwaukee at the UI Soccer Complex on August 12th. One of the strongest mid-major programs out there, the Panthers have made eight consecutive NCAA appearances and are coming off of a 13-5-3 season, including another Horizon League championship. The opening weekend wraps up with a home match against a Loyola-Chicago team that went 9-4-6 last year, battling Iowa to a 0-0 draw a year ago in the Windy City.

Up next is a three-game road trip, starting with a trip to Winston-Salem to face a Wake Forest squad that has made four of the last five NCAA’s, including a runner-up finish in ’24 and an at-large bid last season after finishing with an 11-5-4 record. They’ll finish out the road trip with winnable matches against UNC-Greensboro (4-12-3) and Iowa State (4-9-4). The Hawkeyes have won eight of the last ten against the Cyclones.

The final weekend of the non-conference season will come in Iowa City with home matches against Kansas State and Missouri State. The Wildcats are in just their 11th season playing women’s soccer and are coming off of the program’s first ever winning season, finishing with a 7-6-5 record. As for the Bears, it will be third year in a row that the Hawkeyes meet up with them, including facing off in the ’24 NCAA Tournament. MSU is coming off of a 7-9-4 season, falling short of NCAA’s and failing to win ten games for the first time since the ’21 season.

Big Ten Matches

Sept 10: at Minnesota, Sept 13: vs Nebraska, Sept 18: vs Illinois, Sept 24: at Penn State, Sept 27: at Ohio State, Oct 4: vs Rutgers, Oct 8: at Washington, Oct 11: at Oregon, Oct 16: at Maryland, Oct 22: vs UCLA, Oct 25: vs USC, Oct 30: vs Wisconsin

The Hawkeyes went 6-2-3 in Big Ten play last season; finishing tied for third in the standings with UCLA. This season, on paper, brings a very tough slate of games in the new 12-game format, including six matches against NCAA Tournament teams. The Hawkeyes are set to face seven of nine that finished with them in the top ten, but they do also get the bottom three from last year’s conference standings.

Although the Big Ten doesn’t provide many, if any for sure wins for anyone, the Hawkeyes will get to wade their way into conference play a bit. Their opening weekend starts with a trip to Minnesota and ends with a home match against Nebraska. Those two teams combined for a 5-11-6 record in Big Ten play last season, including a pair of shutout losses to the Hawkeyes. They’ll follow that up with a single-game weekend at home against an Illinois team that went 13-6-2 and made NCAA’s for the first time since the ’13 season. Iowa has won or drawn in seven of their last eight against the Illini.

After their opening stretch, things ramp up with five of their next six coming on the road. They’ll start with a pair on the road against Penn State and Ohio State, before coming home to face Rutgers. The Nittany Lions are one of the nation’s top programs but fell to seventh in the standings and 10-8-3 overall, failing to make the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2016. As for the Buckeyes, they made a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight last year, finishing with an 11-5-6 record. The Hawkeyes are 0-5-1 against OSU since 2015 but did not face them last season.

Sandwiched in the middle of the road heavy stretch, the Hawkeyes will host a Rutgers team that went just 4-7-5 last season, plummeting to 16th in the standings and missing NCAA’s for the first time since 2012. Then it’s back on the road for three more, starting with a trip to Seattle to face a Washington squad that won the Big Ten regular season title, tournament title and made a run to the Elite Eight, finishing with a 15-3-7 record. The finishing portion of the road stretch should be a bit easier on the field, but they’ll travel almost 3,000 miles across the country to face Oregon (Oct 11) and Maryland (Oct 16). The Ducks and Terps combined for a 3-14-5 record in Big Ten play last season, with neither program reaching the 10-win plateau over the past decade.

The regular season ends with a three-game homestand, hosting the two Los Angeles schools at the UI Soccer Complex for the first time ever. It might be a new coaching staff, but the team will want to do better than their 0-1-1 result in LA last season. The Bruins finished tied for third in the conference but finished 12-5-4 after a second round exit in the NCAA’s. As for USC, they came up short of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, finishing with a 7-7-3 record, but earned a 2-2 draw with the Hawkeyes.

Iowa will wrap up the regular season with a home match against a Wisconsin team that has is 4-1-1 against the Hawkeyes over the past five seasons. The Badgers finished fifth in the standings last season, with a 14-6-2 record.

The Big Ten Tournament will be hosted by Purdue at Folk Field in West Lafayette, Indiana. After using a 12-team format that spanned two weekends and used two locations, the conference has whittled it down to an 8-team format. The tournament will be played from November 3rd to 14th.

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