The No. 10 Iowa field hockey team returned to the win column Sunday afternoon with a dominating 7-0 win over Saint Louis.

​The Hawkeyes outscored, outshot, and outplayed the Billikens through all four quarters of play. Iowa had 10 penalty corner opportunities and a late-game penalty stroke opportunity to score goals, yet all seven of the Hawkeye goals were scored in even play.

​Iowa split the scoring between four different players on the team, with third-year Dionne Van Aalsum and graduate student Fréderique Van Cleef adding two more goals apiece.​

In addition, first-year Jordan Byers got her first goal of the season, and second-year Hannah Maney scored her first two goals of the season. ​

“You never know with the playing time, so you just need to be ready on the sideline,” Maney said. “I was just excited to go in and do something; maybe it was my lucky day.”

The goals for Maney marked the second and third of her young career. 

​“She had a couple of good practices lately, specifically yesterday, so we knew we wanted to get her in the game today,” head coach Lisa Cellucci said. “She happened to then be in the right place at the right time and execute two magnificent goals.”

​Going into halftime with a five-goal lead, Iowa knew it had a victory in reach. But in past games, Iowa had struggled to keep up that momentum and continue to work on improving issues in the second half.

​“We mentioned we needed to be able to connect more passes, score more goals, and allow more bench players time to show what they can do in a game situation,” Cellucci said.

​Even though the game overall was a positive for the Hawkeyes, some things still need improving, especially in the offensive passing and penalty corner execution.

​“We were giving a lot of players opportunities but had no goals to show for it, and with a big lead, players seem to forget the simple things,” Cellucci said. “Overall, we are going to look at those this week and assess what we can do to improve these issues.” 

​Iowa improved to 8-3 overall and remains at 1-2 in conference play after two tough losses to Big Ten opponents. With this win specifically, the team looks to take this win as a moral booster for the coming weeks.

​“It is definitely going to build a lot of momentum for us, and the vibes are high, team connection is high, and this is what we needed,” Maney said.

​Time is limited for the Hawkeyes to relish on this win, however, as they are set to hit the road next weekend against two key Big Ten contenders in Penn State and Rutgers. The Hawkeyes square off against the Nittany Lions on Oct. 17 at 4 p.m. 

​“We will debrief both games and make sure we work on sustained possession and our penalty corners, so we are ready for those two big matchups,” Cellucci said.