Lokke Stribos isn’t your typical college field hockey player. The midfielder from Brussels, Belgium arrived in Iowa City in fall 2018 and has been a mainstay ever since.

Lokke started every match at left back for the 2021 squad that peaked at No. 1 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll and won the Big Ten regular season title. She netted eight goals and notched two assists for eighteen total points her fourth year, earning her second team All-Big Ten honors.

But Lokke wasn’t done yet.

She opted to take advantage of her extra year of eligibility — offered to all 2020-21 athletes because of COVID-19 implications on college sports — and return for a fifth season with the Hawkeyes.

Although Lokke has only lived in the U.S. for four years, she has had ties to the Hawkeye field hockey program for much longer. Her older sister, Marike Stribos, was an All-Big Ten Hawkeye field hockey player from 2010-14.

Lokke said familial ties initially drew her to Iowa City, as well as familiarity with Head Coach Lisa Cellucci and Associate Head Coach Michael Boal.

“I visited Iowa when I was like 12 [to watch Marike], and at that point I knew I wanted to be here,” Lokke said. “I knew I would be in good hands with the coaching staff as well, so I knew this was going to be a good experience.”

Tagging along on that visit was Lokke’s younger sister, Sofie Stribos, who also joined the Hawkeye field hockey program in fall 2019. The Stribos sisters started all 20 games last season side by side.

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The opportunity to play together on the collegiate level is a huge advantage for both sisters, Sofie said.

“I always played with my sister growing up, so now it’s like we have a little special connection together that nobody else has on the field,” Sofie said. “We don’t know anything else, and it just makes our bond stronger and it’s made us closer since coming to college.”

Their connection extends off the field, as well. Since Sofie moved to the U.S. in 2019, the sisters had lived together in an Iowa City up until this fall.

And Sofie was relieved when her older sister decided to return for year five.“I’m not ready to let her go, I’m not ready for her to not be with me anymore, so I’m like, ‘Take it slow,’” Sofie said. “She moved out this semester, and we had lived together our last three years, so it’s one step at a time, I guess.”

The 2021 Hawkeye field hockey team dominated most of the regular season, winning its first 16 games of the season. But Iowa lost three of four games to end 2021, including the first game of the Big Ten Tournament and second contest in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes come into the 2022 season with a No. 5 ranking in the NFHCA preseason poll.

Lokke said she had trouble making the choice to come back, but her teammates eventually convinced her.

“It was all the team,” Lokke said. “The experiences I’ve had for the past four years have been incredible, but it wasn’t an easy decision.”

The sisters may have to split up following the 2022-23 academic year, but they have one more season together at Grant Field.