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Hawkeyes fall to top-ranked Northwestern

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann10/04/25HuesmannKyle
The Hawkeyes fell to #1 Northwestern on Friday night in Iowa City. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)
The Hawkeyes fell to #1 Northwestern on Friday night in Iowa City. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)

One of the biggest games of the weekend in college field hockey, on Friday night, Grant Field played host a top ten showdown between Iowa and Northwestern. In the 92nd meeting between the two programs, the top-ranked Wildcats extended their undefeated start to 10-0, with a 3-1 win over the 10th-ranked Hawkeyes. Despite falling to their rival for the fourth consecutive season, Coach Lisa Cellucci was pleased with the effort from her team.

“This game is not going to hurt us and, if anything, it’s something for us to build off of, but every game going forward is going to be this intense, so we have to just clean up a couple of small things going forward,” said Cellucci. “I gave them props. I said, listen guys, that was a really good effort, especially defensively, and we knew we had to do that, and this is something to build on…we’re going to get better. That’s what I told them.”

Earlier this week, in the lead up to the game, team captain Milly Short spoke about getting out on their front foot early in the match to put pressure on the visiting Wildcats. Facing a Northwestern side that entered Friday allowing just 0.22 goals and 2.89 penalty corners per game, the Hawkeyes grabbed the momentum with a first quarter goal.

In the 11th minute, on their second penalty corner of the game, Dionne van Aalsum got a look at the top of the circle and sent a bouncing shot over the pads of goalkeeper Juliana Boon for the opening goal of the match.

“That was awesome, and that was part of the game plan,” said Cellucci. “If we could, we wanted to try to be on the front foot, get on the board first and put them on their heels. I thought it was a great first half for us.”

The Hawkeyes 1-0 lead held up through the first 30 minutes of the game, but it wasn’t without a couple of nervy moments. In the 14th minute, an Iowa turnover led to a 2v1 transition break for ‘Cats, but before they could even think about getting the game-tying goal, freshman defender Tea Fortpied tracked back and made an impressive defensive play to stop the attack.

“To be able to do that and not give up a penalty stroke or a corner, was quite awesome,” said Cellucci. “Very good technique. She was able to run and stay in the play and jab at the right time. Great defensive effort.”

In the second half, the dangerous Northwestern penalty corner stepped up and changed the course of the game. Almost carbon copy goals, Ilse Tromp scored on drag flick goals in the 33rd and 50th minute to put the ‘Cats in front 2-1. She now has 11 goals on the season, with the majority of them coming on the corner attack.

“They have a lethal drag flicker, and she was fantastic. She found the spot, and that’s world class (goal scoring) right there from her.”

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, if you give a team like Northwestern an inch, they’ll take a mile. That’s what the #1 team in the country and reigning national champions can do. In the 53rd minute, the ‘Cats got out in transition and All-American forward Ashley Sessa attacked into the circle, finding teammate Piper Borz with a centering pass that she put in the back of the net to make it 3-1 with under ten minutes to play.

“It was the little details that hurt us,” said Cellucci. “In transition, they were able to capitalize, and we weren’t. We needed to find a way to have sustained possession up front and that’s where it hurt us because we found ourselves defending, defending, defending. With that said, probably the best defensive game we’ve played all year.”

The final stats show that it was a closer game than the 3-1 final score. Northwestern held a slight advantage in shots (13-10) and penalty corners (7-6), but the Hawkeyes had enough opportunities.

“Sure, we would have liked to have a couple more (chances), but we were even in corners, and even in shots or maybe they had a couple more, so yeah, (we had) enough, but again, it’s the small details of where we needed to put the ball and how we needed to finish (the play).”

The good news for the Hawkeyes is that outside of Northwestern, the Big Ten appears to be wide open. Every other non-Iowa team in the conference has at least three losses. The loss to their rival stings, but Lisa Cellucci says they know they can win a lot of games going forward.

“The race is still wide open with everybody else…I’m not surprised (it’s wide open). There are six really good teams. Ohio State upset Maryland today. I think every game is going to be a battle. There’s a lot of good players and a lot of parody, which is exciting.”

FINAL STATS

#1 Northwestern 3 #10 Iowa

11′ – Goal Iowa Dionne van Aalsum (1-0), 33′ – Goal Northwestern Ilse Tromp (1-1), 50′ – Goal Northwestern Ilse Tromp (2-1), 53′ – Goal Northwestern Piper Borz (3-1)

Shots: Northwestern 13-10 Shots on Goal: Northwestern 8-6 Penalty Corners: Northwestern 7-6

Up Next, the Hawkeyes get the rest of the weekend off and will return to action next Friday for a matchup against the 11th-ranked Maryland Terrapins. The game is set to get underway at 1:00pm CT on the Big Ten Network.

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