Milly Short emerging as a leader in year three with the Hawkeyes

At this time a year ago, Iowa Field Hockey defender Milly Short was about to begin her first season as a starter with the Hawkeyes. An injury during her freshman year kept her from making an immediate impact, but it allowed her to learn and observe from up close on the sideline. Then last season, in her second year with the program, Short started all 19 games on the back line for an Iowa team that spent several weeks as the #1 team in the country. Now, going into her junior season, Milly has emerged as a vocal leader for a team that could have as many as seven underclassmen in the starting lineup.

“I think Milly has done a great job. She’s really stepped it up, and we hear her all the time during practices,” said sophomore midfielder Gia Whalen.

“It’s always been in my personality. I really want to try to lead by example and I don’t really think about it too much. I just let what I do show and sort of fulfill it in that way,” said Short at team media day. “It’s definitely an area that I want to continue to improve upon and I want to help my team in that way.”

With so many projected underclassmen in the starting lineup and in the regular rotation, leadership and veteran voices will be especially important this season. Milly says that a critical part of the summer was helping get the seven freshman up to speed with the ins and outs of Iowa Field Hockey.

“Early in the summer we did a lot of learning. Looking at the tactical side, what our style of play is, getting them up to speed, making sure that everyone’s on the same page,” said Short. “We’re here to help them. We’re here to help everyone, so hopefully we can all be on the same page (when the season starts).”

Part of integrating the young players includes watching film. Milly says that they have gone through some game footage, but also watch practice film to make sure that everyone understands.

“Yeah, we do that. We looked through some games to give them examples and we look through current film, for example, what we do this morning, we can go back and watch that. We do it together, but we’re also open to if someone has a question, we can go watch it back.”

The emergence of Milly Short is not completely limited to her growth as a leader. Head Coach Lisa Cellucci says that she has seen great strides from her from a fitness standpoint and as a player.

“First and foremost, she has had unbelievable strides in her physical fitness. She came back with some massive PR’s this August, which was fantastic,” said Cellucci. “She’s just such a poised and composed player and her hockey IQ has grown a ton since the spring…She has a lot of responsibility in the backfield and, so far, what we’ve seen hass been fantastic.”

Defensively, the Hawkeyes return Milly Short as the quarterback of the back line, while fifth-year starter Harper Dunne returns after suffering a season-ending injury midway through last season. They also return goalkeeper Mia Magnotta who is set to start her 23rd straight game in the season opener.

The experience of those three will be important with the rest of the projected lineup including so much youth. One of the young players, Dutch freshman Fiene ten Seldam is expected to start alongside Milly on the back line with Lieve Schalk possibly out for the season after tearing her ACL in the spring.

“(The young players) they’ve fill their roles nicely. They’ll definitely grow into it, but it seems very promising considering we’ve only been here a week.”

“It’s nice to have that experience behind me and know what’s to come. I know how a season is going to be,” said Short. “We’ve worked hard over the summer, really increased the fitness and we’re feeling good going into the scrimmage (against Northwestern) this weekend.”

The Hawkeyes season opener is set for August 30th against Wake Forest at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Ann Arbor, Michigan.