The No. 13 Iowa field hockey team shut out Michigan State, 6-0, at Grant Field on Thursday evening. 

Battling through the cold, the Hawkeyes had five different scorers, all coming to life in the first half of play.

“There have been a lot of players stepping up in big moments, and we saw that today,” head coach Lisa Cellucci said.

Starting the scoring frenzy was graduate student Fréderique Van Cleef, scoring only two minutes into the game with the assist from first-year Jordan Byers. It would only take Van Cleef another four minutes to score yet another goal, and the Hawkeyes were up 2-0 early. 

“The two-goal lead allowed us to have less pressure and allowed our midfield to fall further into their territory,” Van Cleef said. 

Following Van Cleef’s stellar start, multiple fellow Hawkeyes began to step up as well, like third-year Lieve Van Kessel, who scored only one minute into the second quarter to pad the Iowa lead, 3-0. 

Third-year Dionne Van Aalsum and second-year Lexie Haig also found the back of the net in the second quarter, and the Hawkeye rout was on. 

Though Iowa had immense goal scoring in the first half, only one of its six goals came from its two penalty corner opportunities, which came on a goal from fourth-year Milly Short. 

“It’s been great being able to have multiple options on the penalty corners and Milly really stepped up today in that area,” Cellucci said. 

Iowa’s offensive ball handling and passing plays helped set it up with a six-goal lead going into halftime, something the Hawkeyes have not had all season. 

“We really talked with the team this week about being patient with our ball movements and building on the back side of the ball, which we all did,” Cellucci said. 

The hectic first half would not follow into the second half of play, however, as Iowa’s offensive prowess flipped to Michigan State.

Iowa struggled to gain offensive pressure throughout the third, finding themselves on defense during the period. The Spartans earned three corner penalty opportunities as a result, but none were successful.  

“We gave up a few more transitions and we kind of got a little bored of doing the simples,” Cellucci said. “This is something we can work on.”

Iowa coasted to victory from there, improving to 10-4 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play. 

Up next 

The Hawkeyes’ weekend is far from over, as they get set to prepare for their home finale against No. 19 Michigan on Sunday. 

“Tomorrow we are going to debrief this game and look at what we still need to fix, and then get after Michigan as they are a key matchup for us ahead of the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament,” Cellucci said.