The No. 1 Iowa field hockey team continued its hot streak to open the season with a 5-0 shutout over Vermont at Grant Field in Iowa City on Friday.

The win marks the Hawkeyes’ seventh consecutive win of the season, bringing them to 7-0 record to begin the season. The win is also the Hawkeyes’ fifth shutout so far. 

Iowa freshman forward Dionne van Aalsum, who was named the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Offensive Player of the Week last week, started it off for the Hawkeyes after finding the cage in just the second minute of the contest. 

But even with the hot start, the Catamounts doubled down and held the Hawkeyes scoreless for the rest of the period. 

“Usually the first five minutes is seeing how we are going to match up, how they are going to match up, and what they are going to try to do,” Iowa assistant coach Michael Boal said. “It’s always a little hit or miss and tentative at that point. We were pretty confident on how they were going to play.”

And the Hawkeyes ended the 25-minute scoreless drought with an unassisted goal from junior midfielder Lieve Schalk in the second period. 

Iowa continued its momentum into the second half, starting it off with fifth-year senior forward Sofie Stribos and van Aalsum both finding the back of the cage in the 32nd and 33rd minute, respectively. 

“We made some adjustments,” Boal said. “We took into account the matchups we had and decided to try something a little bit different. I think that’s what caught them off guard a little bit, the changes we made.”

Van Aalsum finished the game for the Hawkeyes with another goal with two minutes left. The goal marked the Castricum, Netherlands, product’s seventh-straight multi-goal game and third-straight game with a hat-trick. 

“I hope she doesn’t stop scoring goals,” Boal said. “I think the best thing about Dionne [van Aalsum] is she still wants to get better and still knows she can get better. She is a great team member, and we are fortunate to have her. We love having her around.”

Defensive effort

But on the other side of the field, the Hawkeye defense had yet another shutout, allowing just four shots in the evening. So Iowa sophomore goalie Mia Magnotta had an easy day in front of the net with only one shot on goal from the Catamounts. 

Despite the final numbers, Boal and the rest of the coaching staff still think the defense can tighten up before the Big Ten schedule starts.

“We are a little disappointed to give away the corners we did,” Boal said. “For us, the focus is to continue to clean up our defense. We feel that is the bigger side we have to improve on. We have a very high standard of it. To their credit, Vermont’s corners are outstanding. We were very fortunate to keep them as low as we did today.”

Up next

The Iowa field hockey team will finish the weekend again at home at Grant Field with a game against Merrimack College on Sunday — its last non-conference game of the season. The contest will start at 1 p.m. 

This will be the last tune-up opportunity for the Hawkeye squad before it travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on the Wolverines on Sept. 22 in its first conference game of the season. That game will start at 5 p.m.