GRR: Northern Iowa
So the WIIL South comes down to Friday night. The Lindenwood-Belleville Lynx, a team with no history until this year, play host to University of Northern Iowa, a team that has been around the DII landscape for a while and boasts among their alumni one of the USA’s greatest players, Paul Emerick.
The University of Northern Iowa moved from the Northern Lights Conference to the WIIL looking for tougher competition, but still with the desire to win games - so far they’ve got everything they wanted.
Saturday UNI shut out Loyola 33-0 despite missing five starters to move to 4-0 and remain in a tie with Lindenwood-Belleville at the top of the WIIL South.
Last year, Iowa State and Northern Iowa kicked off the DI Midwest season with a single-digit decision, which went to longtime regional champ UNI. On Saturday, the Cyclones more than closed the gap and overcame Northern Iowa 36-5.
It really was a new-look Lindenwood that took on Northern Iowa in a DI non-conference match today, and the Lady Lions controlled the match from start to end, writing a 132-0 victory into the books. The Missouri team then added a 55-0 shutout in the B side match.
The new-look WIIL Men’s DII conference gets underway this weekend with 2014 national finalists the UW-Whitewater Warhawks heading up a strong lineup of teams.