Iowa Field Hockey focused on regrouping for Rutgers on Friday

As players from the seventh-ranked Iowa Field Hockey team trickled in for practice at Grant Field on Wednesday morning, a common theme was shared amongst all of the players and coaches. The Northwestern loss is behind them and all focus has been directed towards beating Rutgers on Friday.

“We took the weekend, we watched film, we heavily analyzed and now we’ve just turned a new page,” said junior defender Milly Short. “It is what it is, but we’ve got to move forward. We’re going to make the changes we’ve been practicing this week, and we’ll continue that going into this weekend.”

Last Friday’s performance in Evanston against top-ranked Northwestern is not something the Hawkeyes plan on repeating this season. The Wildcats were seemingly in control from the opening pass and rolled to a 5-0 win. It’s Iowa’s worst loss under Lisa Cellucci and their first time allowing 5+ goals in a shutout loss since they lost to North Carolina by the same score back in 2012.

“They’re a fantastic team, but they shouldn’t have had a lopsided win like that,” says head coach Lisa Cellucci. “A lot of addressing our deep defense, our midfield and our ability to handle transition.”

While we won’t truly know how the Hawkeyes have handled the adversity of a tough loss until they take the field on Friday, Coach Cellucci says that she has been impressed with how the team has responded in practice the last couple of days.

“We’re going to chalk it up as a one off (performance)…I’ve been really impressed with how they’ve responded (this week). We had a great practice yesterday,” said Cellucci. “We’re going full speed ahead preparing for Rutgers and Villanova. I’m confident that we’re going to walk into Piscataway with smiles on our face, ready to continue to fight.”

“It’s just good to see the resiliency from the weekend,” said Short. “We’re not giving in; we’re going to work hard to improve, and we want to put out a good performance on Friday and Sunday.”

As it stands right now, the Hawkeyes sit in decent position for the NCAA Tournament, with their losses coming against the #1 and #2 team in the country. However, in Big Ten play there is nowhere to hide. On the horizon is an important road match against a 3-4 Rutgers squad that is already fighting for its NCAA Tournament life.

Despite the record, the Scarlet Knights still have several key players from last year’s team that started the season with a 15-0 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Midfielder Guillermina Causarano (6 gls, 4 ast) and forward Kara Heck (4 gls, 1 ast) lead the offensive attack, while 2023 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Puck Winter and goalkeeper Sophia Howard spearhead the defense. All four of their losses have come against teams ranked the NFHCA Coaches Top 20.

“They’re still a really tough team and it’s always tough to play at Rutgers,” said Cellucci. “They’re able to move the ball with great deception, their penalty corners are fantastic, and they always have a solid goalkeeper too.”

The last time these two teams met, it was Iowa that really needed a win to solidify themselves as an NCAA Tournament team last season on Senior Day. The Hawkeyes lit up the scoreboard and ran the third-ranked Scarlet Knights out of Iowa City with a 7-2 victory. Although some of the personnel may be different on both sides, it’s a perfect example of good Iowa Field Hockey and a reminder to the veterans on the team that they are capable of such performances.

“I think we were just really composed (in that game) and we took the chances we got and then built momentum. We maintained that momentum with the pressure and some of the corner goals,” said Short. “We need to take some of that from last year because that’s something we’ve struggled with a bit this season, maintaining that momentum, foot on the gas and keep going for 60 minutes.”

“Some of those guys (that played in that game) had watched it back before we had even talked about it because they were like, that was such a great feeling,” said Cellucci. “We hadn’t won a Big Ten game with that type of score in a long time…I think they’re feeling confident, and they know they can do it, so that’s just where we needed to get right and get the right mindset.”

Friday’s meeting with be the 16th all-time between Iowa and Rutgers, with the Hawkeyes leading the series 11-3-1. This will be just their second trip to Piscataway since 2018. After facing off against the Scarlet Knights, Iowa will finish out the weekend with a road contest at Villanova on Sunday. It will be just the second all-time meeting between the two programs.