The No. 21 Iowa field hockey team finished the weekend strong with a 3-1 victory over No. 18 California at Grant Field on Sunday afternoon.
Second-year forward Dionne van Aalsum set the tone for the Hawkeyes immediately. Off of assists from second-year Rachel Herbine and fifth-year Annika Herbine, van Aalsum took advantage of the penalty corner and put Iowa on the board first.
The last four minutes of the second period saw the teams exchange a pair of goals. At the 26th-minute mark, California’s Canisha van Duyn scored an unassisted goal to tie the game at one apiece.
But the Hawkeyes drew another penalty corner on the Golden Bears with just one minute left until halftime. And off of assists from Rachel Herbine and fourth-year midfielder Jacey Wittel, van Aalsum scored her second goal of the contest when the attempt found the back of the net yet again.
Both teams traded shots on goal in the third period, but upon entering the final 15 minutes of the contest, Iowa retained that one-point lead — and extended it with nearly 10 minutes remaining in the contest. There, Iowa drew its third penalty corner of the game.
Iowa took advantage of the California error and turned it into points, this time an unassisted goal off of a deflection from second-year midfielder Gia Whalen, marking her second goal of the season.
“We have been working on [penalty corners] a lot,” Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci said. “Dionne had two great strikes that were very well executed from our trappers. And then Gia Whalen’s rebound goal was clinical. That’s the kind of execution we are going to need going forward, so I am really glad we could do it today.”
The Hawkeye defense finished the job by holding the Golden Bears scoreless in the rest of the period, securing Iowa’s second ranked win of the season.
After a critical and dominating victory over California-Davis on Friday, Cellucci knew her team had to continue the momentum against the Golden Bears.
“I think we just feel really good about putting a two-game weekend together that was much needed from us going into the final stretch of the regular season,” Cellucci said. “I am really proud of the girls.”
Mia Magnotta comes alive
The defense put on another impressive performance in Sunday’s effort. But anchoring the game in more ways than not was third-year goalie Mia Magnotta.
With a look at the box score, many can already see the success that Magnotta had against the Golden Bear offensive unit, giving up just one goal but recording seven saves from a dangerous Cal attack.
“She just stayed really poised,” Cellucci said. “She stayed focused on the ball, and that’s what we told her today. She did a great job organizing, but with these guys and how dangerous they are with the deception they have on their passing and hitting, she had to just focus on the ball.”
Up next
Iowa field hockey gets back to regular conference play this coming weekend with games at Michigan State and No. 3 Ohio State. The ball will drop at 2:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m., respectively, with coverage coming on Big Ten Plus.