The Iowa field-hockey team opened its season this past weekend, hosting part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Grant Field.
Challenge? For a Hawkeye club playing its first game since losing eight seniors after last season, baptism by fire may have been a more fitting label.
On Sunday, ninth-ranked Iowa fell to No. 4 North Carolina, 5-0. The loss came just 24 hours after Iowa suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of No. 2 Wake Forest, last season’s NCAA runner-up.
Senior Sarah Pergine and freshman Geena Lesiak both tallied goals against the Demon Deacons on Aug. 29. But no Hawkeyes were able to find the back of the net against the Tar Heels on Sunday.
Iowa had a steep slope to climb in the second half after goals from Katelyn Falgowski, Elizabeth Stephens, Elizabeth Drazdowski, and Melanie Brill put the North Carolina up, 4-0, at halftime.
“It’s difficult, but that’s what being a competitor is all about,” senior Meghan Beamesderfer said. “You have to just keep pushing forward.”
Iowa failed to convert on penalty corners and other scoring opportunities. That, coupled with a fifth and final North Carolina goal by Kelsey Kolojejchick, left the Hawkeyes with a winless weekend.
Head coach Tracey Griesbaum was disappointed with her team’s energy — or lack thereof. She said she felt as though her squad displayed a lot more heart and urgency the previous day against Wake Forest.
“I wish I knew [why],” she said. “I think a lot of it is a mental exhaustion. We have a team that isn’t as experienced, and it’s the mental grind … you’re up early, you’re preparing, you’re sitting in meetings, then you play, then you’re scouting, then you sit in another meeting — it’s a long day for a player who’s not used to that.”
With a 16-woman team that includes eight freshmen — three of whom started in both games — Griesbaum’s crew has plenty of youngsters who are unfamiliar with the rigors of playing top competition in back-to-back games.
But inexperience wasn’t Iowa’s only problem on Sunday. The 10th-year head coach cited the team’s fitness as a “big issue.”
“You’ve got to have the fitness part,” she said. “If you don’t have that, then you’ve got to have the experience and the skill. If you don’t have the experience — which we don’t have — then your back’s to the wall. That’s why I always count on the heart and the effort and us being able to physically stay in games.”
Griesbaum noted the squad wouldn’t dwell on the weekend. Instead, the Hawkeyes will use it as a learning experience.
Despite being young, Iowa still has enough seasoned veterans, such as senior captain Tricia Dean, to help the team remain focused on the bigger picture — getting back to the NCAA Tournament at the end of a lengthy season.
Iowa will hit the road for its next two games this weekend in Amherst, Mass. The Hawks will play No. 17 Massachusetts on Saturday at 1 p.m., then take on Boston University on Sept. 6 at noon.
“We definitely have our heads up,” Dean said. “We’re 0-2, but we have a long season ahead of us. We can’t get down now, or else we won’t make progress during the season.”
