#1 Iowa Field Hockey shuts out Vermont to stay unbeaten

The number one ranked Iowa Field Hockey team in the country took to the turf on Friday afternoon looking to keep their undefeated record intact against Vermont. It was slow going in the first half, but things opened up in the second half with three goals and the Hawkeyes defeated to Catamounts 5-0 to extend their unbeaten streak to seven games. It is just the fourth time since 1992 that Iowa has started a season with seven or more wins in a row.

The Hawkeyes wasted no time getting on the board with a goal in the third minute on a penalty corner from forward Dionne van Aalsum. Iowa has now scored five goals in the first five minutes of games this season. Annika Herbine and Lieve Schalk were credited with assists on the goal.

Over the next 25 minutes, it was a bit of a feeling out process for the Hawkeyes. The early goal gave them a cushion, but the Catamounts defense was a tough one to crack. Iowa tried some longer passes and they didn’t always work out. After 27 minutes, the Hawkeyes had totaled just five shots.

“The first five minutes is seeing how we’re going to match up, how they’re going to match up and what they’re going to do, so it’s always a little hit and miss at that point. We were confident with how we thought they were going to play and they came out pretty similar,” said associate head coach Michael Boal. “We just didn’t quite connect with the final pass to get us momentum. Just kept trying, kept working on it, trying to keep moving the ball and try not to get frustrated.”

Iowa broke through in the 29th minute on another penalty corner. Annika Herbine inserted to Dionne van Aalsum, but her shot was saved by Vermont GK Lauren Halenkamp. The rebound found its way to Herbine and her follow up shot got to the goal line, but was swept out by midfielder Meg Weyer. Fortunately, Lieve Schalk was out in front of the goal and she was able to corral the ball and send it past the goal line to make it 2-0 Hawkeyes.

Lisa Cellucci’s squad went into the halftime break with a two-goal advantage, but were playing without starting midfielder Lieve Van Kessel. She was fouled in the 11th minute and took a hard fall, injuring her right knee when she hit the turf. Van Kessel was helped off the field and later seen being carted over to the UI Sports Medicine building next door. Michael Boal did not have an immediate postgame update.

“They’ll let us know as soon as they know. Unfortunately, a bad collision, but we’ll hope for the best and see what happens.”

Out of the half, the Hawkeyes were able to find some success on the offensive end of the field and quickly doubled their lead in the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter. In the 33rd minute, Dionne van Aalsum worked her way into the circle and fired a shot towards the goal. Sofie Stribos was waiting in front of the goal and got a stick on the shot to redirect it between the legs of the Vermont goalkeeper to make it 3-0 Hawkeyes. Stribos now has three goals this season.

𝙂𝙊𝘼𝙇 🤝 Sofie Stribos #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/EQ2QQGN06i

— Iowa Field Hockey (@iowafieldhockey) September 15, 2023

Under a minute later, the Hawkeyes were on the defensive half, but quickly turned the tables on the Catamounts. Sofie Stribos passed to Esme Gibson and she fired a strong pass to Dionne van Aalsum on the perimeter. van Aalsum ran stride for stride with a Vermont defender into the circle and was able to send a shot past GK Halenkamp for her second goal of the game to quickly make it 4-0 Hawkeyes.

“We made some adjustments (at halftime). We took into account a little bit of those matchups that we had and we decided to try something a little bit different and I think that’s what caught them off guard,” said Coach Boal. “That got us those opportunities and we went on well from there.”

The Hawkeyes threatened to score early in the fourth quarter, but substitute goalkeeper Ila Gunner made saves on shots from Lieve Schalk and Sammy Freeman. In the 59th minute, Iowa got a penalty corner opportunity and nearly earned a penalty stroke, but a review determined that it would be a retry on the corner. Dionne van Aalsum scored on the ensuing penalty corner attempt to give Iowa an even five goals on the day.

The Hawkeyes 5-0 win marked their fifth shutout of the season, but the coaching staff was not totally satisfied with what they saw on the defensive end. Vermont finished with just four shots and two penalty corners, but there were still things to clean up.

“We were actually a little bit dissapointed to give away the corners. For us, our focus is continuing to just clean up our defensive side of the ball,” said Boal. “We feel that’s the side that we’ve got to improve on and we have a very high standard.”

It’s not surprising that a defense nicknamed the “Great Wall of Iowa” is always looking for ways to improve. The high standard is backed up with the fact that the coaching staff wants to be better despite allowing just 43 shots and 23 penalty corners over seven games.

“I think they’ve done a really outstanding job from where they started. It’s a whole new group back there who’ve done a fantastic job,” said Boal. “It’s not just the defenders themselves, it’s from front to back, it’s everybody and I think that’s where we can clean it up and we’re getting that. We’ve made improvements already. We’re just excited for once we get to where we want to be.”

Lieve Schalk and Annika Herbine each had two assists on the day, which puts them at one and two on the team with a combined nine assists on the year. Dionne van Aalsum scored three goals and she now has 19 through seven games.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes welcome the Merrimack Warriors for the weekend finale on Sunday afternoon. The game is set to get underway at 1:00pm CT and will be streamed on BTN+.