12 September

The Iowa Hawkeyes travelled to Trager Stadium at the University of Louisville with a lot to prove. Now ranked fifteenth on the NFHCA poll, Iowa had a chance to show if they could win convincingly against top-tier competition. The Hawkeyes were partnering the number one Northwestern Wildcats in the Midwest Challenge, against the Miami of Ohio Red Hawks and the University of Louisville Cardinals.   The Red Hawks are a perennial contender in the Mid-America Conference; I still recall the first time I saw them in action against the Northwestern Wildcats in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament tied 1-1 through two overtime periods before conceding defeat in a final shootout. Iowa last saw the Louisville Cardinals in 2023, beating them on their home turf at Trager but in the NCAA first round letting the Cards take their revenge in another tie-breaking shootout. Both teams could be counted on to give us a game. 

Trager is one of the very best venues for hockey. Unlike such cheese-paring fields as Rutgers and Villanova, that put the hockey pitch in the middle of their running track, here one can sit so close to the field that play is practically in one’s lap. And the location is perfect as well, about a day’s drive from both the field hockey mecca in Pennsylvania and our Big Ten outposts in Illinois and Iowa, allowing chance meetings with both new and old acquaintance. Today it included the parents of Iowa forward Tess Reed, whose sister Maggie was playing for the Red Hawks. I advised the Reeds, “Just cheer whenever anybody scores.” And they would get that opportunity before we were five minutes into the match. Miami’s Sloane Wearren took a pass in the Iowa scoring circle and scored. Contest continued evenly another five minutes till Iowa’s Felicia Zonnenberg penetrated the Red Hawk circle for a penalty corner. Van Aalsum’s first shot was blocked but in a second penalty corner she scored on an assist from Rachel Herbine. My spirits lifted a bit, but remained on edge as Miami had three more chances in the quarter. Two were blocked by Iowa’s goalkeeper Mia Magnotta and the third was wide.

The second quarter was all too reminiscent of previous years, with the Hawkeyes on the defensive as the Red Hawks enjoyed eight chances to score. Fortunately, Mia saved five and the rest went wide. Miami attempted tricky penalty corner routines but executed them too slowly to fool the Iowa defenders, especially van Aalsum, our “fly” the number one runner, and goalkeeper Magnotta. So, we went into the half equal at 1-1 and as I vacated the bleachers to avoid being drenched by the water cannons wetting the pitch, it seemed the Red Hawks could very well win this one. But the third quarter favored Iowa, after weathering a Miami penalty corner attempt in the first minute that bounced off the post. A couple of minutes later Iowa won a penalty corner, but Zonnenberg’s injection was mis-trapped and went to the Miami. Iowa quickly recovered and in the fifth minute Iowa gained another penalty corner. The rules of field hockey do not permit specialist penalty corner units—you play with who is on the pitch. And van Aalsum had been relieved. The Hawkeyes came up with a clever routine. The injection went to Rachel Herbine, who passed to Milly Short, who fired the ball into the goal. Finally, we were in the lead. Both sides had plenty of chances, but at the end of the quarter, with no time left on the clock, Iowa gained yet another. This time van Aalsum took the injection, but instead of shooting on goal, she passed to Lieve van Kessel, who scored. Iowa ended the quarter with an insurance goal and the Iowa fans breathed a lot easier. And that was how the game would end. In the last quarter both Iowa and Miami earned penalty corners and the Red Hawks had another shot on goal that Magnotta saved, but score line remined Hawkeyes 3 Red Hawks 1.

As the Hawkeye parents, including the mothers of Gia Whalen, Mia Magnotta, and Rachel Herbine, celebrated with their daughters (I imagine the Reeds had to celebrate with Tess while consoling Maggie), I reflected on the outcome and what it might mean for the Iowa Hawkeyes prospects for this season. Miami could well have won this one, which would have been a major setback for Iowa’s quest to go back to the NCAA Tournament. But the Red Hawks are a good team and expected to put up a fight and Iowa never faced more pressure than they could handle. Also, it seemed an excellent sign that each of Iowa’s three goals was scored by a different player. In the past couple of years, it had seemed that they were too reliant on van Aalsum for goals. And also Iowa had been three shots by van Cleef and one each by Zonnenberg and Byers. Iowa had converted three of nine penalty corners, an average worthy of an international team. One negative struck me. Iowa threw no aerials, Miami only a weak one into the circle late in the match. These days the high ball is how top-flight teams move the ball, especially distributing from their own end of the pitch.

The Hawkeyes had accomplished half of their task for the weekend, and it didn’t look like  they would have to “pull up any trees”—as the international commentators describe a really tough test. But on Sunday their opponent would be the Louisville Cardinals, a consistently strong team.