Hawkeyes explode for five goals, down New Hampshire
It was Gold Out at Grant Field on Friday afternoon and the fans in attendance were treated to an offensive explosion by the home side Hawkeyes. Five different players scored a goal, as sixth-ranked Iowa earned a 5-0 shutout win over New Hampshire. They’ve now won 30 straight games against non-ACC non-conference opponents dating back to the 2017 season.
“It was great to get some goals on the board. New Hampshire is perennially a very good team,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “The name of their game is transition and that’s what we’d seen on film. A big part of our game plan was our defensive organization, limiting their transition and when we did that, we were in complete command.”
After a quiet first 25 minutes from both sides, the Hawkeyes broke through in the 26th minute. A frantic scrum for a loose ball in the circle led to an Iowa goal, as true freshman Hannah Maney got a stick on the ball and knocked it in. It was the first career goal for Maney.
Minutes later, with under a minute to play in the half, Iowa converted on a broken penalty corner play. A loose ball in front was swiped into the goal by Alex Wesneski for another gritty goal from the Hawkeyes. While those messy goals aren’t the best looking, winning coin flip balls in the circle can change a game.
“You never know how many chances you’re going to get, especially in that six-yard space,” said Wesneski. “I just kind of held my space. It was a little bit of a broken corner…The ball just fell right into my hands and I’m just happy I was able to put it in.”
“We’ve been working on just continue to play, continue to play. The ball is going to bounce around a lot (at times),” said Cellucci. “We would ideally love the perfect penalty corner execution. It didn’t happen that way, but great gritty, scrappy play in front of the goal.”
The dam on the New Hampshire defense broke in the second half and the Hawkeyes turned a once tight game into a 5-0 onslaught. In the 33rd minute, fresh out of halftime, Dionne van Aalsum forced a UNH turnover and took it herself the other way, converting a sharply struck shot into the low left portion of the goal. Her second goal of the season made it 3-0 Iowa.
“I think we just had to get a little confidence, get some goals to fall, and we’re doing a little bit better job of working with each other,” said Cellucci. “It was way too individual in the first couple of games. In practice, we’ve been able to put some good combinations together.”
Iowa added on a pair of insurance goals early in the fourth quarter. In the 47th minute, UNH was whistled for a field player stopping a potential goal with their body, which sent Milly Short to the spot for a penalty stroke. She calmly stepped up and converted the stroke to make it 4-0.
Before the Wildcats could catch their breath, the Hawkeyes were back on the attack looking for a fifth goal. UNH goalkeeper Kerigan Ross saved a shot attempt by Rachel Herbine on a transition break, but Jacey Wittel gathered the rebound and put it away in the back of the goal.
“Five different goal scorers, that’s super awesome to see and it’s encouraging,” said Alex Wesneski. “Working for each other is definitely super important, especially as we go from game to game and get into Big Ten play.”
Offensively, the Hawkeyes did a great job creating opportunities for themselves, with ten penalty corners. They converted on just one of those ten chances, but had five goals on just eight shots on goal. While the efficiency on the corners was not there today, the team was happy to see the goals come anyway.
“I think that’s really impressive, and says a lot about what we are capable of,” said Wesneski. “We’ve just got to be able to execute our roles and put the ball in the back of the goal, and that’s from the push to the trap to the shot. We’ll go into tomorrow and clean those up a little bit, but we’re really excited for the next one.”
Up Next: The Hawkeyes will host the Delaware Blue Hens on Sunday for Alumni Day. The game is set to get underway at 12:00pm CT on BTN+.
