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The Daily Iowan
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The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan
The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Iowa field hockey wins season opener over Wake Forest with rally

The Hawkeyes rebounded from a 3-1 deficit with four different goal scorers. Junior Dionne Van Aalsum led the team with two.
Patrick Halma, Sports Reporter
August 29, 2025
Clara Jarecke
Iowa Midfielder Diane Van Aalsum prepares to catch the ball during the Iowa Field Hockey Exhibition against Northwestern on Saturday, August 23, 2025. The game went into a tie-breaking sudden death round to declare a winner.

The Iowa field hockey team kicked off its season on a high note, defeating 20th-ranked Wake Forest 5-4 Friday afternoon at Grant Field. The 15th-ranked Hawkeyes have now won eight straight season-openers. 

First-year Felicia Zonnenberg scored the go-ahead goal with just under two minutes remaining, corralling a rebound near the corner of the net and knocking the midair ball past the Wake Forest goalkeeper for the lead. 

“Very pleased with this result, that is a fantastic Wake Forest team,” Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci said. “They have some very dangerous players, very dangerous attacks but I was so proud of our resilience. Every time we got down we fought back in.”

Junior Dionne Van Aalsum scored a team-high two goals for Iowa. Her first arrived 59 seconds into play, but Wake Forest notched the next three scores. The Hawkeyes rebounded with three goals across a six-minute span. Fréderique van Cleef and Tess Reed started the rally, and Van Aalsum netted her second for a 4-3 lead. 

“We have a lot more depth allowing us to keep more people fresh and be able to really play hard especially in the fourth quarter,” Cellucci said. “This is a new look for us and we are just really excited about the depth we have.”

The Hawkeyes executed when given the opportunities to score. Iowa ended the game converting 3-of-6 penalty shots and 5-of-12 shots on goal. 

“Penalty corners can really change a game and they did for us today,” said Cellucci. “We need to clean up our defensive execution of penalty corners, but we really executed very well on our offensive penalty corners and we’ve been really working on it.”

For Celluci, the win marked the start of a ceremonious weekend for the longtime head coach, now in her 26th season at the helm. Celluci earned an induction into the Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame. 

The former Hawkeye goalkeeper holds the program record for career saves with 592 and helped the team advance to the Final Four in 1990. The four-time All-Big Ten selection led Iowa to two conference regular season titles, each with a perfect 10-0 record. 

Up Next

Iowa returns again to Grant Field on Sunday to face off against North Carolina at 1pm. The Tar Heels have won five of the last seven NCAA titles, most recently in 2023 under rookie head coach and former All-American Erin Matson. Over her first two years at the helm, the 25-year-old Matson is 38-4.