PREVIEW: #3 Iowa Field Hockey vs #2 Northwestern
The Iowa Field Hockey team enters week seven of the season with a 10-1 record. They suffered their first loss of the season last week against Ohio State, but bounced back with a win over Michigan State to close out the weekend. Still, the Hawkeyes dropped a couple of spots to #3 in the new NFHCA Coaches Poll.
There is no rest in the Big Ten and up next is arguably the biggest matchup of the season. It’s a rivalry matchup against #2 Northwestern. The Wildcats come into the matchup with an 11-1 record, including wins over #11 Boston College, #4 Duke, #19 UMass, #7 Ohio State and #15 Michigan. Their lone loss came in the season opener against #5 Louisville.
“Northwestern has been a rival for our program way back into the 80’s,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “I can’t tell you how many games decided who went to the Final Four between the two schools.”
It will be the 82nd all-time meeting between the Hawkeyes and Wildcats, with Iowa leading the series 57-30-1. The two teams have played an incredible ten times over the last five seasons, including three NCAA Tournament games. Northwestern has won 12 of the last 17 meetings.
Iowa Hawkeyes Projected Starting Lineup
Forwards: Annika Herbine, Dionne van Aalsum, Miranda Jackson
Midfielders: Sofie Stribos, Rachel Herbine, Gia Whalen
Defenders: Esme Gibson, Lauren DeRose, Lieve Schalk, Milly Short
Goalkeeper: Mia Magnotta
Northwestern Wildcats Projected Starting Lineup
Forwards: Olivia Bent-Cole, Peyton Halsey, Chloe Relford
Midfielders: Lauren Wadas, Alia Marshall, Regan Cornelius, Greta Hinke
Defenders: Lauren Hunter, Katie Jones, Maja Zivojnovic
Goalkeeper: Annabel Skubisz
The Breakdown
Before we take a deep dive into breaking down the Wildcats lineup, let’s take a look at this matchup on paper. FieldHockeyCorner.com has the Hawkeyes ranked at #5 in their computer rankings, while Northwestern is at #1. The RPI has Iowa ranked 7th, with Northwestern up in 4th.
Offensively, Iowa is averaging 4.09 goals, 15.9 shots and 6.2 penalty corners per game. For Northwestern, they are averaging 2.92 goals, 21.2 shots and 9.5 penalty corners per game. The Wildcats have put 60.4% of their 255 shots on goal, while the Hawkeyes have put 62.9% of their 175 shots on goal. Defensively, neither side allows their opponent to do a whole lot. Iowa is allowing just 0.55 goals, 6.5 shots and 3.9 penalty corners per game. For Northwestern, they are allowing 0.58 goals, 6.5 shots and 3.5 penalty corners per game. Nearly indentical numbers.
The Hawkeyes defeated Northwestern 3-1 in an exhibition prior to the season opener, but Lisa Cellucci says that success there does not necessarily lead to success during the season.
“Typically, we usually win that preseason scrimmage and then they continue to get better and better,” said Cellucci. “They always peak at the right time and they’re really starting to hit their stride. Their penalty corners are having way more success and they really shored up their deep defense.”
“Not much different from a personnel standpoint. They’re just a lot sharper than they were in the preseason.”
Starting off on the front line with the forwards, Northwestern has a couple of good ones in Peyton Halsey and Olivia Bent-Cole. Halsey leads the team with nine goals and six assists, while Bent-Cole has six goals and three assists in her freshman year. She joined the team as the #1 recruit in the country this season.
“(Bent-Cole) has world class speed and she has great skill to go with it. She’s actually on the senior national team, so we’ve seen her play for a long time, just not at the college level,” said Cellucci. “With Northwestern and their forwards, you have to be able to run with and channel (force them outside), so it’s really our channel versus tackle decision making.”
In the midfield, the ‘Cats have several playemakers that can use their speed and stick handling to create opportunities in the circle. Alia Marshall and Lauren Wadas are returning players that have combined for just two goals, but 13 assists. They also have Richmond transfer Lindsey Frank who has played in all 12 games and also has an assist. Those three have the ability to take the ball from the midfield and get all the way to the circle, or turn the corner along the baseline to get in close for dangerous centering passes.
“Alia Marshall is a fifth-year player with tons of speed and she’s key on their offensive and defensive penalty corners, but I think that she just makes really sound decisions in the midfield on both sides of the ball,” said Cellucci. “Lauren Wadas just has a lot of physicality. She has a lot of strength and great skill over the ball. It’s going to be by committee on defense. We’re going to have to be able to press really well together and stay super connected.”
The Wildcats also have a very dangerous offensive penalty corner team spearheaded by sophomore defender Maja Zivojnovic. They are averaging 9.5 penalty corners per game, while Zivojnovic has scored nine goals on corners, including five over the last three games. Coach Cellucci explained how Northwestern is able to earn so many corners, and why Zivojnovic has been so good at converting on straight shots.
“It’s a big part of their gameplan. They’re individually skilled in the one-on-one, so they do try to catch you in transition, but then if they don’t have a good option in the circle, they’re looking for the upgrade off a foot right away.”
“They have a great insert. Really consistent, really fast, it gets out to the top of the circle and then (Zivojnovic) is so quick with her delivery. She can sweep, she can drag, she can hit and she gets a little bit of lift on the ball, which makes it extremely difficult for the post players and the goalkeeper.”
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Looking at the statistics, it is a bit of a surprise that the Wildcats are averaging just 2.92 goals per game. They have taken 80 more shots than Iowa, have earned 45 more corners than Iowa and have 44 more shots on goal than Iowa. Despite that, they have scored ten less goals than the Hawkeyes this season. Goalkeepers have saved 77.3% of shots against Northwestern, but just 59.1% against Iowa. If this is because the ‘Cats have not been able to challenge opposing goalkeepers laterally, then that could play a factor in this matchup, as the Hawkeyes have Mia Magnotta, who is 13th in the country with a 78.6% save percentage. Certainly, something to watch on Friday.
Defensively, Northwestern has been as good as anyone in the country this season. They rank second in the country in goals allowed per game (0.58) and shots on goal allowed per game (3.2). The ‘Cats lead the nation in shutouts with eight, while Ohio State and Duke are the only two teams to score mutliple goals.
“One thing they do really well is they use their cover player really well, especially in the deep defense. They stay very connected, they move together and their cover player is on the ball line immediately,” said Cellucci. “It’s really hard to penetrate them in their defensive third, so we we’re doing a lot of work this week on our attacking free hits and being able to get in and behind their zone.”
In a recent matchup against Princeton, Northwestern was able to force turnovers, as the Tigers attempted to use long passes to make it through the ‘Cats defense. Lisa Cellucci says they have to rely on short passes to work down the field.
“When we’ve been the most successful, we’ve committed to building the ball and committed to moving the ball and really being able to exit the channel and go. That’s how we’re going to have to beat Northwestern.”
In goal, Northwestern has one of the best goalkeepers in the country in Annabel Skubisz. She has made 30 saves this season and ranks 6th in the country with an 81.1% save percentage. Skubisz has continued to get better over the course of her career, going from 77.4% as a freshman to over 80% this season. She has ranked inside the top 12 in save percentage in each of the last three seasons.
“She’s unbelievably poised. She’s a really good communicator, so she really organizes their defense. Unless you can beat her laterally and low, she’s hard to beat, so we have to be really appropriate with the shot selections that we’re taking.”
The other strength for Northwestern is their penalty corner defense. They don’t give a lot of opportunities in general, just 3.5 per game, but opponents have only been able to convert on 2 of 42 penalty corner chances this season. With Maja Zivonjovic on the offensive corner and a lockdown defensive corner team, Northwestern has the ability to change the game with their “special teams”.
“Annabel Skubisz has great size and covers a lot of the cage, also a couple of players that we mentioned, Alia Marshall and Olivia Bent-Cole are their flyers and they get out with great speed and they put teams under complete pressure,” said Cellucci. “We have to be able to move the ball and get things off and really try to pinpoint our spot. We have a couple of new looks that we’re going to try to put in for this weekend.”
Keys to Victory from Lisa Cellucci
1. Willingness and ability to join and build the play
2. Commit to moving the ball
3. Good counter defense structure
Final Thoughts
This is going to be a battle. Over the last ten meetings, Northwestern has won six and Iowa has won four. Seven of the ten matchups have been decided by one goal, while Northwestern has outscored Iowa just 13-12 over that span. Lisa Cellucci said Ohio State, player for player, has more speed than Northwestern does, but the ‘Cats have players that can get down the field in a hurry and that was tough for the Hawkeyes to handle last week. However, last week against OSU was their first game without defender Harper Dunne and now they have had time to prepare, as well as makes some changes.
Northwestern has been playing as well as any team in the country and is now nearly favored by a full goal in the FieldHockeyCorner computer ratings. Coming off their first loss of the season last week, people would probably be quick to pick the Wildcats and cite injuries to a couple of key starters as a reason why the Hawkeyes won’t win. That would be selling Iowa short, as they have the talent on all three lines to continue playing like a top five team. Remember those other two matchups of top three teams over the last five years that I mentioned? Both at Grant Field. Both won by Iowa. Lisa Cellucci will have her team prepared and ready to play. PREDICTION: IOWA 2 NORTWESTERN 1
