By Michael McCurdy
Iowa field hockey entered last weekend with a Big Ten record of 0-3.
Going into its pair of games this past weekend, it became apparent that if the team wanted to turn things around, this was going to be the weekend to do it.
The Hawkeyes’ first challenge was Indiana on Sept. 30 in Bloomington, and the Hawks and Hoosiers played an even, hard-fought game.
No one found the back of the goalie box until the 53rd-minute, when Iowa’s Sophie Plasteras scored from roughly seven yards out on the left side of the goalie box.
Iowa had captured the lead in a competitive game and seemed to gather momentum, but Indiana answered seven minutes later on a rebound shot by Kelsey Giese. The game was tied with 10 minutes to go, a situation Iowa has been all too familiar with this season.
The game went to overtime, and while the odds were stacked against Iowa, Iowa prevailed when freshman Katie Birch scored the winning goal in the 71st-minute despite being one player down because of a yellow-card suspension.
The Hawkeyes finally made a shot when it counted the most, something the program has been waiting for all season. It could not have come at a better time, either, with a little less than half the season left and more rigorous Big Ten games ahead.
Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci could not have been more pleased with her team’s performance. It had been a while since her team played a complete game and was able to finish it.
“We put together a complete game,” Cellucci said in a release. ”We controlled possession, played solid defense, and finished when it counted.”
On Sunday, the Hawkeyes tried to carry their momentum with them to Kentucky to take on No. 7 Louisville. The Cardinals opened the floodgates early with back-to-back goals in the seventh- and 10th-minutes.
Louisville’s early attack lit a fire in the Hawkeyes, however; after that, the team defensively shut out the Cardinals.
The only issue, though, was that the Hawkeyes were unable to score themselves, missing their three shots on goal.
As a result the Hawkeyes lost, 2-0, but they can walk away from this weekend knowing they got the weight of their first conference victory off their backs, an overtime win to boot.
Iowa now sits at 7-5, 1-3 in Big Ten play. The team has four more pivotal conference games left this season, and the win over the Hoosiers should have the ability to prove to the Iowa players they can compete and win games in the conference.