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Iowa Field Hockey blanks Michigan State on Thursday night

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann11 hours agoHuesmannKyle
The Hawkeyes dominated the Spartans on Thursday night. (Photo by UI Athletics)
The Hawkeyes dominated the Spartans on Thursday night. (Photo by UI Athletics)

The Iowa Field Hockey team was on high alert with an upset-minded Michigan State team visiting on Thursday night. Despite entering with a 4-9 record, the Spartans upset #18 Ohio State on Sunday. Thanks, Buckeyes, for alerting the Hawkeyes. Lisa Cellucci’s squad was locked in from the start, rolling to a 6-0 shutout win over Michigan State. With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 10-4 on the season and 3-3 in Big Ten play.

“We spoke a lot about two passes, moving forward, keeping possession of the ball, and we did everything great, especially in the first half,” said forward Frederique van Cleef.

There was very little wondering about how the Hawkeyes were going to fare against the Spartans. In the 2nd minute, freshman midfielder Jordan Byers controlled an aerial pass and made a great individual effort to maneuver her way into the circle, before dropping the ball off to Frederique van Cleef who scored the opening goal of the game.

Moments later, in the 6th minute, Milly Short threaded a pass through to van Cleef in the circle and she was able to create an angle for herself, before finishing with a backhand shot past MSU GK Lyra Gavino. Although neither side knew it quite yet, the route was on.

“I think the two goals did a really good job for our team. A little bit less pressure on the whole team,” said van Cleef. “You saw that Michigan State was a little bit bummed about (giving up) two goals in such a short period, so they dropped two (more players back on defense), and that gave us more space to work for the other goals.”

The Hawkeyes were already in control after the first 15 minutes, controlling most of the possession and building the 2-0 advantage, but things came unraveled for the Spartans defense in the second quarter.

It was a flurry of goals, starting just 56 seconds in the quarter. With two goals under her belt, Frederique van Cleef turned into a facilitator assisting on a Lieve Van Kessel goal. Minutes later, Dionne van Aalsum forced a turnover on the MSU back line and took it herself, scoring on a backhand shot for her 22nd goal of the season to make it 4-0 in the 20th minute.

“Just the way we moved the ball, especially in the midfield and how we built it going forward. We knew they were probably going to sit off (defensively), just like they did. We had great patience and that’s what we talked to our team about all week,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “Patience with our ball movements and then being able to build on the backside of the ball. We did a great job in the first half.

The game was already broken open at 4-0, but the Hawkeyes blew the doors off with two goals in the span of a minute at the tail end of the half. In the 26th minute, a deflected pass into the circle was knocked down by Lexie Haig and slapped into the net for her first goal of the season. Less than 60 seconds later, on the penalty corner, Milly Short got a stick on the shot from Tea Fortpied, redirecting it into the goal for her fifth of the season to make it 6-0 before halftime.

“We were really trying to play three touch hockey, and then just move the ball. That’s what we did in the midfield,” said Cellucci. “We really, really clicked, and then just had some really seamless finishes up front. Would have liked to have seen some more penalty corners, if we could have drawn some, but we’ll take six goals however we can get them.”

For the game, the Hawkeyes totaled 19 shots, 11 shots on goal and had five different players record a goal, including an NCAA leading 22nd goal from Dionne van Aalsum. Meanwhile, Frederique van Cleef scored her tenth goal of the season to give Iowa to double-digit goal scorers for the first time since 2019. Equally important, the Hawkeyes showed their depth of options with five goalscorers on the night. That could come into play during postseason play, which is quickly approaching.

“I think we’ve been building and working on that all year, and there’s people stepping up in big moments, and we saw that today,” said Cellucci. “It’s really good to be able to have some different options on the penalty corner. Milly Short has really stepped up, that was a great goal today. We have lots of depth and have people who can put the ball in the goal.”

“It was a very good team effort,” said van Cleef. “You can see that everyone (on this team) can score a goal and everyone can give an assist. It brings confidence to the other players on the team.”

FINAL STATS

#10 Iowa 6 Michigan State 0

2′ – Goal Iowa Frederique van Cleef (1-0), 6′ – Goal Iowa Frederique van Cleef (2-0), 16′ – Goal Iowa Lieve Van Kessel (3-0), 20′ – Goal Iowa Dionne van Aalsum (4-0), 26′ – Goal Iowa Lexie Haig (5-0), 27′ – Goal Iowa Milly Short (6-0)

Shots: Iowa 19-7 Shots on Goal: Iowa 11-1 Penalty Corners: Michigan State 3-2

Up Next, the Hawkeyes host the 13th-ranked Michigan Wolverines on Sunday at Grant Field for their home finale. The game is set to get underway at 12:00pm CT on BTN+.

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