Iowa Field Hockey earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament
For the sixth straight season and for the 28th time in program history, the Iowa Field Hockey team will be in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes will be headed to the Evanston Regional, hosted by #1 Northwestern, after earning an at-large bid and will take on the #10 Louisville Cardinals in a rematch of a regular season battle in the first round on Friday.
“We are so excited to be going to the NCAA Tournament,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “It’s a pretty awesome feat to be going to the Sweet Sixteen for the sixth straight year. I’m really proud of this team. I think our body of work, the strength of the schedule, and the big wins we did have during the year definitely set us up for this. We are going to a familiar place with familiar opponents, so we are really looking forward to the challenge.”
How everyone got here…
– #1 Northwestern (18-1) earned the Big Ten’s automatic bid, after defeating #8 Maryland 1-0 in the Big Ten Tournament Championship.
– California (12-7) earned the automatic bid out of the America East, after defeating #19 Albany 3-2 in overtime of the conference champioship.
– Miami OH (14-7) earned the automatic bid out of the Mid-American Conference, after defeating Kent State 3-1 in the conference championship.
– #7 Iowa (13-5) earned an at-large bid after picking up wins against #2 North Carolina, #5 Rutgers, #10 Louisville, #16 Michigan, #18 UMass Lowell and #19 Albany during the season.
– #10 Louisville (14-6) earned an at-large bid after picking up wins against #1 Northwestern, #4 Virginia, #11 Ohio State, #13 Boston College and Miami OH.
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A brief look at the Louisville matchup
If you are wondering why you feel like you’ve heard about Louisville this season, it’s because you have. The Hawkeyes defeated the Cardinals 2-1 back on October 15th.
That game was just 21 days ago. Louisville was ranked #5 at the time, but the loss to Iowa was the second loss in a four-game losing streak that included a 4-1 loss to Syracuse and a 2-1 upset loss to Appalachian State. That put them on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but wins over Boston College in the regular season finale and first round of the ACC Tournament kept them safe.
Louisville ranked sixth in the ACC in goals scored per game (1.65), but second in goals allowed per game (1.05). The Cards are first in the ACC in penalty corners drawn (138). Offensively, forward Aimee Plumb (5 gls, 6 ast), forward Rylie Wollerton (5 gls, 3 ast), midfielder Emilia Kaczmarczyk (5 gls) lead the way. In goal for Louisville is Merlijn van der Vegt has made 57 saves on 21 shots faced and her .731 save percentage ranks 31st in the country.
Game times for the Evanston Regional will be released later in the week, as will a full preview of the Hawkeyes matchup against Louisville.
