By Michael McCurdy | [email protected]
The Iowa field-hockey team will try to bounce back from last season, in which it went 9-10 overall and lost half of the games by a single goal.
Although the record was, as head coach Lisa Cellucci put it, “not your typical season of Iowa field hockey based on our traditions and standards,” many players on the team feel as if last season was beneficial and enhanced their skills on the field for this upcoming season.
The Hawks return seven of their 11 starters from last year, including redshirt senior and 2014 Big Ten Offensive Player of Year Natalie Cafone. Her return is crucial in competing for the Big Ten crown because of her experience and her impressive offensive skills.
After missing all of last season, she said her experience was not as bad as she thought it would be.
“I learned a lot about the team and my own game by watching from the sideline,” she said. “Things I hadn’t been taught in my four years here.”
The team is definitely excited to have her back on the field, along with sophomore Makenna Grewe, who started every game last year as a freshman and was third on the team in goals with seven.
Although she emerged as a major offensive threat last season, going into this season, she knew there was still work to be done. Which best explains why this summer she stayed here rather than returning to her hometown of San Diego to further strengthen her game by training and running together as a team.
Fans can expect Grewe to have more confidence with a year under her belt and her role on the team to be more significant than last season.
Cellucci said she understands her team should be a definite improvement over last season, but she sees areas in which the Hawkeyes might struggle. Last season, the Hawks were young and lacked depth, but this season, the younger players have gained the experience needed to compete in the Big Ten. With Cafone back, the offense should see a major improvement.
There still seems to be one area in which Cellucci knows her team will struggle with this season: depth. Losing four starters from last year’s squad does not help the problem, but she assures Hawk fans not to worry.
“Yes, it’s the biggest problem this year, but we’re going to work around it the best we can,” Cellucci said.
The improvement will be on display this weekend when the Hawks travel to North Carolina for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. On Saturday, Iowa will play Wake Forest, a very talented team that starts the season No. 6 in preseason polls.
On Aug. 28, the Hawks will take on North Carolina, No. 1 in the preseason polls.
The Hawkeyes said they know they are going to be challenged this weekend, perhaps harder than during the rest of the season. Senior goalkeeper Alexandra Pecora welcomes the competition. She said she understands North Carolina and Wake Forest are arguably the top programs in the country, but instead of going into these two games nervous about the rigorous competition, she wants to instill a different mindset into her team to “not be fazed by their high ranking” and to “start the game off with an attack mindset.”
Cellucci said she also welcomes the intense competition.
“It’s awesome for our RPI, and we will know where we stand right away,” she said.
As in college basketball, a team’s RPI gets better by playing tough competition, and it does not get much tougher than starting out the season playing the No. 1 and No. 6 teams. Iowa is No. 22 in the recent preseason poll, a spot that only encourages the Hawks to keep fighting.
“It’s not where you start,” Cellucci said. “It’s where you finish.”