Long before Sophie and Lokke Stribos’ recruiting days, their older sister Marike Stribos played field hockey at Iowa from 2010-14. This is where the girls got their first glimpse of what it would be like to be Hawkeyes.

Through an Iowa alum and good friend of head coach Lisa Cellucci, the Iowa field hockey program found the Stribos sisters, who would all eventually become a big part of the team’s success.

“My friend and her husband lived in Belgium and got in touch with the Stribos family,” Cellucci said. “She called us up and said, ‘Hey, I think I found a great Hawkeye for you. You have to come watch her play.’”

Not long after, Marike Stribos became a Hawkeye. Nine years later, Sophie and Lokke have followed in her footsteps.

“They are all very wonderful people, great students and very, very humble,” Cellucci said. “They’ve just been model athletes in our program.”

However, the sisters aren’t alike. They each hold their own skills and assets that combine well on the field hockey field, and their personalities extend from that.

“Sophie for sure has the most speed out of all of them, and she’s also the most smiley and outgoing,” Callucci said. “Lokke is more reserved, but she is an awesome distributor and a very good on ball defender. Marike was more midfield minded; a great passer with great vision, and her personality falls in the middle of Sophie and Lokke somewhere.”

After Marike graduated, the Hawkeyes were hoping that both of her sisters would follow in her footsteps.

“I mean, we had hope that maybe they’d all want to come to the states one day,” she said. “We just took each one as they came. Marike had a great experience at Iowa and her sisters got to come watch her play, and I think they just caught the Hawkeye bug.”

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For Sophie, having her older sisters playing for Iowa made her choice much easier.

“I always looked up to [Marike] when I was younger,” said Sophie. “I’ve been playing with my sister [Lokke] since I was really young, and we’ve always been really close, so it’s just fun and I enjoy it.”

She also admitted that on the field they play on different sides, but when they aren’t in game mode they are as tight as can be.

“Yeah, on the field she’s a defender and I’m an attacker, so we don’t really play together in a sense, but off the field nothing changes,” Sophie said. “We’re just best friends on the field and off the field.”

As a freshman, Sophie admitted she’s grateful to have someone show her the ropes.

“Yeah, [Lokke] has definitely made my transition to college easier,” she said. “And all of the girls have been so welcoming, and they’re all my friends.”

After trekking all the way from Belgium, the sisters admit they have found their home away from home at Iowa and their second family with the field hockey team.

“The girls on the team are my best friends, and they’re so supportive. It just makes me feel very at home,” said Lokke.