Iowa defensive back Sebastian Castro says the Hawkeyes need to remain focused on what happens on the field and not the atmosphere Saturday night. The 24th ranked Hawkeyes visit number seven Penn State in front of more than 106 thousand fans in the Nittany Lions’ annual white out game.

Castro says as a veteran he does a good job of keeping the game in perspective.

Penn State sophomore quarterback Drew Allar is off to an impressive start, but Castro says defending Penn State begins with the ground game.

The Minnesota Vikings will try to break through on Sunday when they hoswt the Los Angeles Chargers. The Vikings are 0-2 after losses to Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. Minnesota tight end and former Iowa star T.J. Hockenson.

Mistakes have been costly. The Vikings are a minus-6 in turnover margin through two games.

Hockenson says the offense remains confident.

The Vikings have made an addition to the offense by trading for Rams running back Cam Akers. The move also included a swap of late round draft picks.

Green Bay Packers rookie outside linebacker Lucas Van Ness is off to a good start in his first season in Green Bay. In 1+ game(s), Van Ness has registered 4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL’s and 1 QBH. He left game two last week in the first half after suffering an elbow injury and didn’t return. He was limited in practice on Wednesday and hopes to return to action in the Packers home opener against the Saints on Sunday.

Van Ness on his first two NFL games.

The bullets are flying for real now.

Packers are excited for the home opener on Sunday.

They’re past last week – ready for the Saints.

The defense is ready to get back on track.

On learning from veteran Preston Smith & Rashon Gary.

(Radio Iowa) – State Treasurer Roby (ROB-ee, like “Robbie“) Smith says a rare trading card from a pro basketball star’s rookie season has sold for 54-hundred dollars. The 1986 Michael Jordan card was in a batch of unclaimed property Smith’s office put up for auction online this spring. When Smith was made aware of the card’s potential value, though, he ordered an appraisal — which found the card was authentic, in near mint condition and worth at least four-thousand dollars.

Smith has seen photos of the card, which was in an unclaimed lock box turned over to the state years ago. A very limited number of people have handled the card.

Banks turn unclaimed lock boxes over to the State Treasurer’s Office if the owner can’t be tracked down. The 54-hundred dollars made from the sale of this Michael Jordan card will go into an special state-managed account, just in case the owner or an heir steps forward in the future to claim the money. The state maintains the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website where people can search for any unclaimed property.

Each year, the State Treasurer’s office receives up to 300 hundred safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned and is running out of space, so some of the boxes that have been in the state’s possession for several years are selected for auction. The state still has about three-thousand unclaimed safety deposit boxes in storage.

Golfer of the Week

Daniel Aas, Wisconsin

Sr. – Båatsoe, Norway – Limestone University

• Captured medalist honors with a two-round total of 140 at the Frank Wrigglesworth-Blugold Invitational at the Eau Claire Golf and Country Club
• Recorded 31 of 36 holes at or below par, highlighted by a tournament-leading eight birdies
• Carded rounds of 71 and 69 to secure his three-stroke victory as the only golfer to finish under par
• Collects his first career Golfer of the Week honor
• Last Wisconsin Golfer of the Week: Clayton Tribus (Sept. 14, 2022)

2023-24 Big Ten Men’s Golfers of the Week

Sept. 7: Hunter Thomson, Jr., MICH

Sept. 14: Max Herendeen, Fr., ILL/Mac McClear, Gr., Iowa

Sept. 20: Daniel Aas, Sr., WIS

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State is set to embark on its first road trip of the Big 12 slate this week, heading to West Virginia for a matchup with the Mountaineers. ISU and WVU will square off on Thursday, Sept. 21, in a match that is set to kick off at 6 p.m. CT and that will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

ISU (3-5-1) is looking to bounce back after dropping its last two contests to Kentucky and Oklahoma State. The Cyclones will look to earn their first-ever win over WVU as well as their first Big 12 win of the season. Defending league champion West Virginia (2-5-2) will look to pick up its first win since August 27.

Iowa State’s five losses have come to opponents who have combined to go 34-5-4 (83.7 win percentage) through the first half part of the season.

The Matchup: Iowa State (3-5-1) at West Virginia (2-5-2)
Where: Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium// Morgantown, W. Va.
When: September 21 – 6 p.m. CT
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Live Stats: cyclones.com

Leading the Cyclones
Iowa State enters Thursday’s contest after dropping two straight home games, including a 4-1 loss to Oklahoma State to open Big 12 play.

Mira Emma leads all Cyclones in goals (4), points (10), shots on goal (13), shots (19) and assists (2). The fifth-year senior captain notched her second career brace in the team’s last road outing against Portland State.

Fellow seniors Salomé Prat and Abigail Miller also have more than one score on the year, as each has two. Leia Khairy, Kristin Boos and Lauren Hernandez each have one goal to round out the Cyclone scorers. 

Goalkeeper Avery Gillahan is the lone Cyclone to have played all 810 possible minutes this season. Gillahan recorded her second career shutout against Portland State in the team’s last road outing.

Scouting West Virginia
West Virginia’s season has started out much like ISU’s. The Mountaineers have played steep competition, as the team’s five losses have come against teams that are a combined 31-4-4 (84.6 win percentage). Three of WVU’s losses have come to ranked teams as it played No. 4 Duke, No. 8 Penn State and No. 12 Virginia.

WVU, last year’s Big 12 champion, is led offensively by Taylor White. White, a sophomore forward, has four scores and two assists for a team-high 10 points on the year. Along with White, Maddie Moreau and Julianne Vallerand, each have a pair of goals and are the only others to have more than one goal.

WVU forward Dilary Heredia-Beltran leads the team in assists, as she has three to pair with a goal for a total of five points – the second most on the team.

In the net, Kayza Massey has started eight of the nine contests for the Mountaineers. Massey, a preseason Big 12 Team member, did not start the previous match against UCF but came in at the half. Massey has 24 saves on the year and a pair of shutouts to boot.

From the Notebook 

• The Cyclones have lost just one match under Coach Fannon when scoring at least two goals. Two seems to be the magic number for the offense.
• Iowa State leads the Big 12 in shot accuracy, placing 57% of its attempts on goal. That’s good enough for the 22nd-highest ranking in the country.
• Three Big 12 programs are ranked in the Coaches Poll this week, as BYU is No. 6, Texas is ranked 14th and Texas Tech is 25th.
• Senior Mira Emma ranks in the top ten in ISU history in points, goals, game-winning goals and assists.
• After program legend Jordan Silkowitz was drafted into the NWSL, a new face took the net for the Cyclones this past week, as Avery Gillahan handled goalkeeping responsibilities. Through eight matches, Gillahan has a pair of shutouts and 19 saves.
  • Gillahan earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors on August 23rd for her performances during the first week of the season.

Series History
The Cyclones and Mountaineers will meet for the 12th time on Thursday as part of a series that began in 2012. West Virginia has dominated the series and holds an 11-0 record over ISU. The Mountaineers have allowed Iowa State to score just two goals across the previous 11 meetings and have won the last ten matchups via shutout. 

Up Next
Following its first road Big 12 match, the Cyclones will head to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats in the two teams’ first-ever meeting. Iowa State and Cincy are set to play on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 11 a.m. (CT) and the match will be streamed on ESPN+. 

With Luke Lachey likely out for the season Steven Stilianos will be counted on to step up a tight end for Iowa. The grad transfer from Lafayette had two receptions on Saturdays win over Western Michigan and says his biggest area of improvement since joining the program has been in run blocking.

Iowa rushed for 254 yards against Western Michigan and Stilianos expects the ground game to continue to make progress.

Two teams looking to bounce back from embarrassing losss collide in Ames Saturday afternoon when Iowa State hosts Oklahoma State in the Big-12 opener for both. The Cyclones are coming off a 10-7 loss at Ohio while the Cowboys were throttled at home 33-7 by South Alabama.

That’s Cyclone senior defensive back Ben Nikkel who says the Cyclones need to play with a sense of urgency that coach Matt Campbell thought they lacked at Ohio.

After finishing 1-2 in nonconference play the Cyclones view the conference opener as a fresh start.

The chore for the defense is taking on an Oklahoma State offense that rotates three quarterbacks.

Iowa State’s defense has played well and is one of the highest ranked units in the country, but Nikkel says there is no frustration with an offense that ranks as one of the nation’s worst.

The 24th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes are gearing up for a major road challenge under the lights when they visit seventh ranked Penn State. It is the Nittany Lion’s annual White Out game. Hawkeye senior defensive lineman Logan Lee.

Junior running back Leshon Williams says the Hawkeyes look forward to the opportunity.

Williams on the big game atmosphere.

Hawkeye middle linebacker Jay Higgins says it will be a raucous atmosphere.

These teams met two years ago in Iowa City with the Hawkeyes rallying for a 23-20 win.

Higgins says he enjoys challenges like this.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa field hockey freshman Dionne van Aalsum has been named the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Offensive Player of the Week after recording five goals and four assists in a pair of wins last weekend. She has tallied multi-goal games in every game of her collegiate career. The announcement was made Wednesday by the organization.

It is the second week in a row the Castricum, Netherlands, native has been awarded a NFHCA honor and the third time for the Hawkeyes this season. Redshirt sophomore Mia Magnotta was named Defensive Player of the Week on August 30.

Van Aalsum leads the nation with 21 goals, 46 points, 2.62 goals per game, and 5.75 points per game. The freshman recorded her third consecutive hat trick and an assist against Vermont and scored two goals with three assists in the Hawkeye’s win over Merrimack.

No. 1 Iowa leads the nation in winning percentage (1.000), shutouts (6), shutouts per game (.75), scoring margin (4.50), scoring average (4.88), goals (39), goals per game (4.88), goals allowed (3), goals against average (0.38), points per game (13.38), and assists (29). The Hawkeyes rank second in assists per game (3.62).

The No. 1 Hawkeyes (8-0) travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to open Big Ten play against No. 8 Michigan (5-3) at 5 p.m. on Friday. The game will be streamed on B1G+.