Bill's Hockey Blog

The sight of so many dark blue Michigan jerseys, with a smaller but substantial presence of light blue worn by North Carolina supporters, was my stirring assurance that the field hockey season was beginning at Grant Field. My remit did not cover their match, but I belong to that tiny (I suspect I may be alone) group of local hockey fans who attend every match, whether or not Iowa is playing. And as a measure of what we might expect this season, I wanted to see how the Wolverines would stack up against the Tar Heels. Both teams had their most lethal strikers back from playing with the National Team—Ryleigh Heck for Carolina and Michigan’s Abby Tamer. North Carolina won 3-0, with goals by Ryleigh Heck in the first quarter, and by Sanne Hak and Kara Heck, who had joined her sister after graduating Rutgers, in the third. But that score was misleading. Michigan had many good opportunities to score, with eight penalty corners to Carolina’s three. I expect that the new Wolverine head coach, Kristi Gannon Fisher, will be putting her team through a lot of penalty corner routines during the next week. On Sunday we would see just how strong the Heels are against the Hawkeyes but I am not expecting an easy match for us.

After cadging some free food and hydration at the Hawkeye tailgate, missing the parents of last year’s Hawks who had graduated, I took my place in my stadium chair dead center and halfway up the bleachers. Once the action starts, I find I don’t know hockey well enough to distinguish one formation from another, but with a little help from the (not always accurate Big Ten commentators) heard that Iowa used a 3-4-3 formation, with their captain Milly Short at back and freshman Peyton Shellaway and sophomore Fiene ten Seldam supporting her, with Short often alone as a sweeper, so it looked like 1-3-3-3. Téa Fortpied, appropriately wearing Harper Dunne’s old number 23, frequently substituted into the back line, as well as freshman Anyia Woods. Gia Whalen, returned from playing with the U21 National Team in Paraguay, was at midfield, along with freshmen Niamh de Jong, Jordan Byers, and Felicia Zonnenberg with her Yibbi Jansen white headband. Starting front line were leading scorer Dionne van Aalsum, veteran striker Rachel Herbine, and freshman Fréderique van Cleef. This formation would allow the Hawks good transitions from midfield to the front line, with Byers and Zonnenberg moving up to join the strikers.

One minute into the match the spectators were on their feet as the Hawks penetrated the Demon Deacons’ shooting circle and van Cleef passed to van Aalsum who put the ball into the goal. But just as the Hawk fans thought we were cruising, two and a half minutes later the Deacons’ Captain Faye Janse penetrated the Hawks circle, evading the seemingly inactive defenders, and scored. This was the pattern for all afternoon, back and forth movement and alternating scores, depending on which team could take advantage of the others’ unforced errors. With three and a half minutes left in the quarter, Wake’s Mia Montag scored on a PC to end the quarter up 2-1. It seemed at the start of the next quarter that the Deacons lead gave them more momentum, but at just under three minutes Iowa gained a PC and van Aalsum scored off an injection by Hannah Maney.

So, we went into the half equal at two goals each. Iowa had used lots of substitutes, with experienced players Lieve van Kessel, Tess Read, Lauren DeRose, and Hannah Maney coming off and onto the pitch, as well as freshman middy Kaia Beaudoin. But I was struck by how much the Deacons resembled Iowa, using even more substitutes, including three South African players. I was especially impressed by freshmen Rea Phume middy Georgia Pollock. Like us, the Deacons put a lot of younger players onto the pitch who were very skilful but still unpractised as a team, with passes that failed to connect and unsupported runs with the ball.

Q3 continued the pattern of advantage going to the team most able to recover quickest from mistakes yet from a spectator’s point of view one of the most exciting I’ve seen at Grant Field. A long aerial by the Deacons into the Iowa circle led to a PC and on the second attempt Montag injected to Pollock whose strike led to a melee in front of the goal (what GK’s call “the ugly zone”) and USWNT player Mia Schoenbeck pushed the ball across the line. Less than two minutes later Iowa counterattacked and gained a PC. With a chance to even the score and the Hawk attackers were forming up around the Wake circle, the suspense was broken as the defenders discovered that they had forgotten to move their protective gear to behind the opposite goal at the half. Everyone stood gaping as three Deacon players from the sideline were despatched to the goal with the masks, knee pads, and gloves for the defenders. I did wonder at the delay. In international hockey the defence has forty seconds to get ready or they are penalised by losing a defender in the goal. I have never seen anyone penalised in NCAA hockey for that and we weren’t today. Finally the Deacons were ready. Hannah Maney injected with Zonnenberg and Beaudoin at the castles but surprise, the injection went to Milly Short at L1 who shot it into a melee. The ball pinged off a defender and Tess Reed put it away. The suspense was shattered, the Hawk spectators jumping up and down and high fiving with relief. Nothing like it since last summer celebrating USWNT goals in London with the fans from the American International School. Even at three all. Then in the last minute van Cleef took a long pass and carried the ball all the way to the Wake Forest circle and scored. Celebration started then another anticlimax for a review; there had been some kind of foul down the field. Green card to the Deacon Janse. Goal stood. Before we could celebrate being ahead, Wake Forest won a PC with thirty second left and Mia Montag scored. The last quarter continued scoreless to the last two minutes. Iowa won a penalty corner though van Cleef was sent to the naughty step for hitting the ball after the whistle. Zonnenberg injected, van Aalsum hit the ball towards goal, the goalkeeper blocked the shot but it popped up and the injector Zonnenberg batted it in to win the game for Iowa.

What does this match tell us about the Hawks prospects? It shows they have some very talented freshmen who are already first-rate Div 1 starters. PC conversion rate looks very good; this had not been a strong area in previous years. And their ability to move the ball and get shots looks encouraging. But we must say of both teams that good Division 1 teams do not concede scorelines like these and there is clearly a lack of cohesion. But our new players are really promising and the veterans are playing well.