Three Things: Iowa Field Hockey begins official practices

It is officially field hockey season in Iowa City. Arguably the most underrated program at the University of Iowa, the Hawkeyes are tied for the fifth most wins in the country over the last five seasons. This year, they have their sights set on getting back to the Final Four for the first time since the spring season in 2021. A year ago, the Hawkeyes got off to an 8-1 start and climbed as high as #3 in the polls, but faltered down the stretch. Still, they knocked off #5 Virginia in the first round of the tournament and were a penalty shootout loss against Northwestern away from another Final Four.

Today, they get back on the turf for their first day of official team practices, with exhibition matches against St Louis and Northwestern on the horizon. The season opener is set for August 25th against Wake Forest in Chapel Hill, NC as a part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. We take a look at three storylines following the team heading into the season.

1. Who will be scoring the goals for the Hawkeyes?

This wasn’t a question for Iowa at the beginning of last season, as the Hawkeyes scored 32 goals over their first nine games and got off to an 8-1 start. The story changed over the final 11 games. Iowa scored just nine goals (0.81 per gm) and were just 4/45 (8.8%) on penalty corner opportunities. They ranked 7th in the Big Ten and 37th in the country in goals per game. That makes this the biggest question mark going into the season.

The good news is that the Hawkeyes return their top two goal scorers. Annika Herbine scored six goals in the first seven games last year, while Alex Wesneski had 11 goals in the first ten games and was seemingly in the right spot at the right time for some big goals early in the year. True freshman Rachel Herbine could be a name to keep an eye on, as she was a two-time nominee for the USA Today National Field Hockey Player of the Year after she racked up 170 goals in four years at Emmaus High School. In the midfield, Second Team All-American Esme Gibson returns as an elite playmaker and distributor. She can also be penciled in for a few goals (4 last year).

The Hawkeyes do not have an Erin Matson or Bente Baekers on the roster to score 20+ goals, so that means it will take a little bit from everyone to get the job done. 40 goals (2.00 per gm) didn’t get the job done last year and it won’t get the job done this year, so several players are going to have to score more goals than they did last year.

The penalty corner group loses three-time First Team All-American Anthe Nijziel and two-time All-Big Ten Lokke Stribos. They combined for nine goals and nine assists a year ago. Sofie Stribos (3 gls, 4 ast) could get a shot in that role this year, but there is still some questions to answer here. Lieve Schalk is a big returning piece here as well after she totaled nine assists last season. Iowa needs to get that penalty corner conversion rate up to around 30% this season because 8.8% over the last 11 games last year caused a lot of issues.

2. Can the incoming freshmen make an impact?

The Hawkeyes return a decent core from last year’s Elite Eight team, but if they are going to contend in the Big Ten and make a run at the Final Four, they are likely going to need some meaningful contributions from the freshman class.

That starts up front with F Rachel Herbine, MF Gia Whalen, F/MF Miranda Jackson and F Tess Reed. As mentioned above, Herbine was a Second Team NFHCA High School All-American, while Gia Whalen was a First Team All-American selection out of Villa Maria Academy in Paoli, PA. Miranda Jackson hails from Repton School in England, which is the same school that Esme Gibson attended. Jackson was a member of the U16 and U18 England National Team. Tess Reed was a three-time all-state selection at Visitiation Academy in Missouri. The contributions from those four could have a big impact on whether or not the offense makes positive strides.

On the other end of the field, top 50 recruit Lauren DeRose comes to Iowa by way Agnes Irwin School in Collegeville, PA. It will be interesting to see if she can crack into the rotation and provide some minutes on the defensive end this season.

3. Mia Magnotta takes over at goalkeeper

Grace McGuire started 57 games over her career at Iowa, was a Second Team All-American in 2021 and had a 77.5% save percentage over her last two seasons. Unfortunately, she missed the last three games of last season with an injury. That forced Mia Magnotta into goal for the biggest games of the season and she did not disappoint. In two NCAA Tournament games against Virginia and Northwestern, she made saves on six of eight shots faced and also saved six penalty shootout attempts. It was just a couple of games, but it was enough to show that it should be a seamless transition at goalkeeper for the Hawkeyes.