The 10th ranked Iowa field hockey team fell to No. 1 Northwestern, 3-1, Friday afternoon, dropping to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Iowa third-year Dionne Van Aalsum was the first to strike, putting the Hawkeyes up 1-0 late in the first quarter of play.
Iowa held Northwestern scoreless for the first half, an impressive feat considering Northwestern’s place at the top of the Big Ten in scoring. Hawkeye first-year Téa Fortpied embodied this effort.
A Northwestern player stole the ball at the mid-field line from Fortpied. With no one back on defense for the home team, Fortpied took it upon herself to run down the Northwestern player near Iowa’s goal and steal the ball to end the scoring threat.
“Very good technique, she was able to run and stay in the play and jab at the right moment,” head coach Lisa Cellucci said. “One the best defensive efforts I have seen by a player.”
Iowa’s one-goal lead didn’t last long in the second half, as Northwestern’s Ilsa Tromp notched a goal early in the third quarter off a rebound on a penalty corner.
Toward the end of the third quarter, Van Aalsum limped off the field with an apparent lower leg injury. This came after she took two back-to-back hits by the ball.
After a look by the trainer and a minute rest. Van Aalsum not only returned to the field with apparent pain in her right leg. Cellucci said the Hawkeyes’ leading goal scorer should be OK, and Van Aalsum, leg wrapped in ice, reaffirmed her coach’s words.
“I just told myself ‘Put it aside you have 15 minutes to play, ice will be waiting for you–let’s go’,” Van Aalsum said.
Northwestern outscored its opponents, 34-3, this season prior to this afternoon’s game.
The Wildcats would go on to score two more goals in the fourth quarter, putting the Hawkeyes in a difficult comeback situation.
Both teams knew endurance would factor in the final result. The Hawkeyes have made this their main priority all season long. For Cellucci, issues arose in the details.
“They were able to capitalize in transition and we weren’t, finding ourselves defending and defending,” Cellucci said. “With that said that was the best defensive game we have played.”
Both the Iowa coaches and players look to take some positives from this game and notes on what to work on ahead of its next home Big Ten matchup with Maryland on Oct. 10 at 1 p.m.
“Our defensive side of the game as a team was really good including high effort, and now that we know we can do that, we just have to combine that with the offense including fixing the small things,” Van Aalsum said.