Alone at the top: Behind the Hawkeyes rise to #1

All offseason, the attention around the college field hockey world was centered around Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where four-time national champion and national player of the year Erin Maton was taking over as head coach the defending champion Tar Heels field hockey program at the age of 23. Meanwhile, 783 miles to the northwest in Iowa City, the Iowa Field Hockey team was coming off a 12-8, where they stumbled into the NCAA Tournament having lost six of their last nine games. Sure, they nearly made the Final Four, but coming into this season, the Hawkeyes were set to lose a three-time All-American, a two-time all-Big Ten and an All-American goalkeeper. On top of that, Lisa Cellucci’s squad scored just nine goals in their last 11 games and now planned to play up to six true freshmen in the regular rotation. They won’t be contender, right?…Wrong.

The Hawkeyes opened the season at #7 in the coaches poll and were the last of five Big Ten teams ranked in the top ten. Now, it’s two weeks later, and the Iowa sits atop the NFHCA Coaches Poll after defeating #12 Wake Forest, #19 Albany and the aforementioned #1 North Carolina Tar Heels. It is just the second time that the Hawkeyes have reached number one since the 1986 team that won the national title. Of course, there are bigger goals in mind for Lisa Cellucci’s team, like a Big Ten Title and a Final Four, but right now, number one in the country sounds pretty good.

“It’s an awesome accomplishment just from a sign of respect for our program and our early season success,” said Lisa Cellucci, who is in her tenth season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. “What (the team) is going to hear from me is that’s what we want to be at the end of the season. We’ve been here before and we know how it feels and how we have to act going forward.”

“We have to keep growing and putting everything into practice and meetings that we can and really continue to push each other. Growth is always the biggest things for us,” said fifth-year senior midfielder Esme Gibson.

Gibson is one of 12 players on the team that was also apart of the 2021 squad that was ranked #1 for six weeks. That team started 16-0, but faltered down the stretch, losing three of their last four games and they came up short of the Final Four. Lisa Cellucci says she learned a lot about how to handle the #1 ranking as a coach.

“We had never been in that situation before and it did feel like a lot of pressure on us. I think we were so focus on the next game, the next opponent and we didn’t stay present. For me, it’s just kind of taking the pressure off of them, staying present and rankings don’t matter, let’s just move about and be about our business.”

Now that Cellucci has coached two teams that have reached number on in the country, the easy thing to do is compare and contrast those two teams. Obviously, despite having some crossover between the two rosters, there are many differences between the 2021 team and the current team, but Cellucci says they do share a common trait.

“I would say the same type of drive. They’re driven, they’re competitive and they want to be the best every day. So far, they’ve impressed me with their consistency and their willingness to want to do more and separate themselves. I have been been so impressed with their poise on the road for the first two weekends.”

So far through four games this season, despite a bit of a new look, the Hawkeyes have lived up to their “Great Wall of Iowa” nickname. They have posted three shutouts and are allowing opponents to get off just 7.75 shots per game. New starting goalkeeper Mia Magnotta has saved ten of the 12 (83.3%) shots on goal she has faced. While the defense is just like you would expect, it is the complete 180 degree flip on the offensive end of the field that has Iowa looking like a dangerous team.

“We have a completely different look to last year, which other teams are really struggling to scout,” said Esme Gibson. “We have a lot more depth in different positions and instead of playing one way out of our outlet, we have lots of different options and structures that we play.”

Over the last 11 games in 2022, the Hawkeyes scored just nine goals (0.82 per game) and averaged just 7.5 shots per game. Through four games this season, including three against ranked teams, Iowa has scored 13 goals (3.25 per game) and are averaging 13.25 shots per game. The team has a lot of veteran leadership. Esme Gibson (81), Sofie Stribos (80), Harper Dunne (62) and Lieve Schalk (44) have been multi-year starters for the program. However, the group that has given the Hawkeyes a new look that teams haven’t seen before and taken them to the next level is the freshman class.

“They’ve been a game changer. It’s been so refreshing and their hockey IQ is fantastic,” said Lisa Cellucci. “We’re able to throw something different at them and they immediately absorb it, understand it and they make the change. They’ve just been very flexible and adaptable.”

“All of our freshman and incomings have done really well in practice and we’re seeing great contributions from everyone,” said Esme Gibson. “They’re really stepping up in games, scoring goals, winning penalty corners, giving assists, it’s been great to see the confidence building. I really think the scrimmages early on that we had really helped with that and I think they’ll only continue to grow and contribute more.”

Lisa Cellucci mentioned before the season that they were going to need big contributions from them and she has gotten just that. 15 players have appeared in all four games, while six of them are freshman. All six of them have contributed large chunks of minutes, while forward Dionne van Aalsum has gotten off to a lightning fast start in the goal scoring department.

“She is a competitor and her skill over the ball is unreal. The lead she made to put herself in scoring position for the first goal against Albany was world class,” said Lisa Cellucci. “She just has great anticipation and she can strike the ball really well and really hit her spots.”

In her first four career games, van Aalsum has scored eight goals and has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week back-to-back weeks. She currently ranks second in the country in goals scored behind Delaware foward Kirsten Oudshoorn, who has nine goals.

“For myself, I just set the level for what I want high and just focus on every game as a new start,” said van Aalsum. “It’s not like I scored last weekend and now I’m the best. It’s just starting from zero again.”

As an international recruit from the Netherlands, van Aalsum was not able to arrive in the summer and work with the team during player-only practices like some of the United States freshman. She says that since her arrival she has been able to lean on everyone for help.

“Being an international, knowing I can go to them and ask the most simple questions I have and they are just there to help me.”

After facing three ranked teams in the first two weekends, the Hawkeyes are set to return to Grant Field for four games against teams ranked outside the NFHCA Top 20. Still, the mindset does not change, they are trying to win four games and enter Big Ten play with an unblemished 8-0 record.

“The goal for us is we have to take care of what we need to take of going into Big Ten play. Being able to play a couple different ways and show a couple different things,” said Cellucci. “Each one of these teams, yes, they’re not ranked, but they’re actually much improved from last year, so we have to be able to try to get more people more minutes because that will help us as we go furth down the season and we have to continue to raise our level.”

The Hawkeyes are set to face Central Michigan, UMass Lowell, Vermont and Merrimack on their home turf over the next two weeks. Iowa owns a 34-8 record at home over the last five seasons, including 15 wins over ranked teams.

“We’ve heard from so many poeple from the start of the weekend. There’s people that have never come and seen field hockey that are going to be coming out on Friday and Sunday,” said Cellucci. “That’s awesome and just to be in front of the home field crowd and just not have to travel.”

The home opener on Friday at Grant Field against the Central Michigan Chippewas is set for 3:00pm CT. The game will be streamed on BTN+.

The post Alone at the top: Behind the Hawkeyes rise to #1 appeared first on On3.