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Iowa Field Hockey earns a huge Senior Day win over #13 Michigan

On3 imageby: Kyle Huesmann18 hours agoHuesmannKyle
The Hawkeyes defeated Michigan on Senior Day in Iowa City. (Photo by UI Athletics)
The Hawkeyes defeated Michigan on Senior Day in Iowa City. (Photo by UI Athletics)

A year ago, the Hawkeyes fell short of the NCAA Tournament. Their 9-9 record left them out of the 18-team field for the first time since 2017. They set out this season looking to restore the Iowa Field Hockey standard and have done just that. The Hawkeyes scored two second half goals to pick up a 2-0 shutout win against 13th-ranked Michigan on Senior Day. With the win, they move to 11-4 on the season, almost certainly locking up a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve been playing good hockey for a couple of weeks now, and it was just awesome to see a complete game come together,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “That was a gritty and resilient from the whole group. What a fantastic win on Senior Day, to get one for Milly (Short) and Mia (Magnotta) and a really big regional matchup that we needed for the postseason.”

“It’s an interesting year. I think (the win) really helps us in the region, but because Ohio State is a regional opponent, that’s going to be big too. I’m not going to say for sure. I think we’re getting closer (to an NCAAT bid).”

The first half was evenly matched, with both sides tallying three shots. Michigan earned a pair of penalty corners, but the Hawkeye defense stood strong, blocking shots by Abby Burnett and Maxine Rogge. Iowa nearly found the scoresheet in the closing seconds of the half, but a backhand shot from Frederique van Cleef went just wide of the goal. Tied 0-0 at the half, Coach Cellucci wanted to see the offensive attack make some adjustments.

“We just needed to actually have a few more layers to our attack,” said Cellucci. “We had a lot of individual efforts, and we needed people joining hard from behind, so we could just drop the ball and be able to build it forward. We had that a little bit more in the second half, which was better.”

It didn’t take long for those halftime adjustments to take hold. The Hawkeyes found themselves in position to go in front with a 34th minute penalty corner opportunity. Against a Michigan corner defense that had allowed just two corner goals all season, Dionne van Aalsum put one on a line, beating GK Caylie McMahon for the opening goal of the game and her NCAA leading 23rd goal of the year.

“It was great (to score on a corner). We didn’t execute the play to a T, but sometimes it works out better that way,” said Cellucci. “Dionne hit the cover off of that ball and it was fantastic.”

“We were pretty happy with how we played (in the first half). We just didn’t quite get a goal to fall, and we knew we could take it up another notch,” said senior Milly Short, “We felt we could pick it up another gear and execute a bit better. We tried to come out really strong in the third quarter, trying to get upgrades in the first few minutes, and put a goal away.”

Despite getting the opening goal, a 1-0 lead against a top 15 side like Michigan is far from comfortable. The Wolverines came in averaging 2.70 goals per game and had moments of sustained pressure against the Iowa defense in the second half. However, those moments of pressure rarely turned into goal scoring chances. GK Mia Magnotta kicked a couple of balls out of harm’s way, while Iowa field defenders locked down in the right moments to extinguish any Michigan chances.

“It was a big focus all week. We talked about having really fire individual defense and really working our feet,” said Cellucci. “Michigan has a lot of threats, especially with Abby Tamer up front, but I thought we did a fantastic job having layers to our defense and coming up with some really big tackles…I thought we had a lot of confidence and we had great presence.”

“Our game plan was really to limit their (corner) opportunities because Michigan is a very threatening team, so we’re really proud of our individual defense and our unit team defense,” said senior goalkeeper Mia Magnotta. “We build momentum off those moments, okay, yeah, they tried, but as a team and individually, we were able to shut them down. It helps propel us forward.”

Trailing 1-0 in the final minutes, the Wolverines opted to pull goalkeeper Caylie McMahon who made several keys saves in the second half to keep the score where it was. With her off the field, Lieve Van Kessel and Gia Whalen linked up, with Whalen diving to tap in the game-clinching empty net goal in the 60th minute.

“It feels great (getting the win), with it being the last game on Grant Field for Milly and me,” said Magnotta. “We got to play with some of our best friends, and everyone fought really hard and I’m really proud of the product we put out there.”

With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 11-4 on the season and 4-3 in Big Ten play. The win over the Wolverines was significant, but Yale also fell to Temple on Sunday afternoon, putting the chances of a three-bid Ivy League in serious doubt. Iowa still has one regular season game remaining against Ohio State, but the NCAAT feels like a certainty at this point.

FINAL STATS

#10 Iowa 2 #13 Michigan 0

34′ – Goal Iowa Dionne van Aalsum (1-0), 60′ – Goal Gia Whalen (2-0)

Shots: Iowa 10-7 Shots on Goal: Iowa 8-2 Penalty Corners: Michigan 4-3

Up Next, the Hawkeyes wrap up the regular season with a road trip to face the 18th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Friday. The game is set to get underway at 12:00pm CT on BTN+.

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