17 October
Pennsylvania State University is located in the town of State College, the name revealing humbler academic pretensions. A former president of the university had a fictitious postal address, University Park, created in a vain effort to avoid being reminded of its origin as an agricultural school, the university still is better known for its athletic success than its intellectual distinction. This year that success seemed to be eluding their field hockey team. The Iowa Hawkeyes arrived ranked eleventh on the NFHCA poll with an 8-2 record; the Nittany Lions unranked at 5-7. But their Big Ten Conference results were murkier; both had lost to Northwestern and Maryland. Penn State had also lost to Michigan and Ohio State, whom Iowa were yet to face.
This was my first visit to the venue, which being in Pennsylvania the motherland of American field hockey (the rest of the world just calls it simply “hockey”) meant that Iowa fans were well represented (six Iowa players come from homes in Pennsylvania). I was in rather a harried state after six hours of driving from Ohio, where I’d spent the night, searching for the proper (i.e. open to visitors) multi-level car park, and walking to the stadium. But the new facilities and seating offered excellent viewing and pleasing washrooms.
Both teams opened aggressively. Six minutes into the match, the Nittany Lions had their first chance with a shot on goal saved by Iowa goalie Mia Magnotta. In the last minute of the quarter Iowa were awarded their first penalty corner. It was the first of what were to be a series of forgone opportunities by the Hawkeyes. The strike by van Aalsum was deflected by Gia Whalen but blocked and sent over the backline by Penn State’s left post defender. Iowa got a long corner and penetrated but a shot by van Aalsum blooped high over the goal.
Penn State opened the second quarter with a strong attack, first pressing the Hawkeye back Fortpied hard on the left side, then shifting to right with a strong pass into the Iowa circle by midfielder Ella Jennes to Natalie Freeman, whose shot on goal was saved by Magnotta. I had been watching Jennes with a mix of admiration and dread as she battled to give possessing the ball to the Nittany Lions. It is the kind of trench warfare, un-reflected in the play-by-play that often determines final outcomes. If hockey players are the toughest athletes in women’s sport, midfielders are the toughest of the toughest. Iowa has a reputation as a very physical team, but this evening Penn State was in control and winning the 1v1 encounters. Less than two minutes into the quarter, Natalie Freeman made a shot on goal, saved by Magnotta. Five minutes in and a chance for Nittany Lions’ Joji Purdy, saved again by Magnotta. In the last third, Iowa’s van Cleef carried the ball into the circle from the left and passed to van Aalsum whose shot sailed high over the Penn State goal. In the last minute Penn State again won the battle for the ball in mid-field and penetrated the Iowa circle for a penalty corner. Later, watching the replay, I was fascinated by the routines. Penn State injected to Purdy on their far left of the circle, L1, but the Iowa defenders switched to a 2-2 defense with number-three trail and left post back with the goalkeeper, and van Alsum, the flyer, going straight at the shooter and blocking the shot. But it struck her body and gave the Nittany Lions another chance. Their second injection went to the stopper at the centre of the circle and their shooter passed back to the injector, whose shot on goal was blocked by Magnotta in the resulting melee in the ugly zone. In the third period, neither team prevailed. Iowa had an opportunity when Gia Whalen took a pass in the circle close to the goal but her attempt was blocked by the Penn State goalkeeper.
In the final quarter Iowa seemed to come alive and given the chances, should have won this match. Three minutes in, de Jong was fouled in the circle. Injection went to van Aalsum at L2 but her shot on the ground was easily blocked by Deverka the Penn State goalkeeper. Nine minutes in, van Aalsum carried the ball up the right touchline and penetrated the Penn State circle but lost the ball. With seven minutes left Iowa got another PC. Van Aalsum’s shot was blocked by the Penn State flyer but the trapper Fortpied got off a shot of her own the was blocked by the goalkeeper. Nittany Lions counterattacked and penetrated. It looked like Iowa cleared but Penn State asked for a referral and were awarded a penalty corner. Personally, I find video referrals a wonderful addition to the game and miss them when watching a tournament like Cup of Nations II. But in terms of drama, they quite ruin the experience of watching. Now Penn State repeated their second corner routine with an injection to Purdy at L1. Magnotta misread her shot and threw herself like a log to the right and it looked as if the shot went wide, but it bounced off the foot of Milly Short at left post for a Penn State penalty stroke. This time Mia read the shot correctly, went to the right again and blocked the penalty stroke, a goalkeeper’s most brilliant accomplishment. Scarcely more than a minute later, van Aalsum ran into circle with the ball, which struck a Penn State foot for a penalty corner. But then van Aalsum’s shot missed by inches, bouncing off the right post. In the last two minutes, van Cleef passed to van Alsum in the circle, but her shot deflected off the Penn State goalkeeper. Milly Short put the ball into the circle again, but there was no Iowa striker there to get the goal. Then in the last seconds, Iowa’s Zonnenberg took the ball towards the circle but collided with a Penn State player and went down. More delay as she was taken off the field, fortunately uninjured, and Iowa request a referral that was ruled no foul. Play was restarted with a bully as time ran out in regulation.
Personally, I detest the NCAA’s two ten-minute tie-breakers. Everyone on the pitch is already exhausted, so play is ragged, and the result a crap shoot. There’s nothing like that in International hockey, where a draw is a draw and if there must be a decision, they go straight to a shoot-out. The first ten minutes passed with alternate circle penetrations. Iowa had three chances, Penn State three, but no score, which would have ended the match. Penn State’s chance was a penalty corner, probably the most suspenseful moment in a tie-breaker and the ultimate test for a PC defense. But the Penn State shot, a reverse-stick backhand, missed.
In the second over-time both teams were constantly running up and down the pitch without result. Iowa’s shot by Jordan Byers went high. Then Penn State penetrated but the shot was wide. Then as the half-way point approached, Zonneberg penetrated the Penn State circle but what should have been the winning shot was a clean miss. Penn State out-letted at the sixteen-metre line to Olivia Marthins, who eluded three Hawkeye defenders who were marking her and got off a beautiful reverse-stick backhand shot from the edge of the circle that flew past Mia into the goal to give the Nittany Lions an upset victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
I was too concerned with my efforts to find the right car park and then to drive nearly four hours to my brother’s house in Doylestown to muse too much of what had clearly been a bad outing for the Hawks. Obviously, van Aalsum had a terrible evening with eight shots and only one on goal, easily dealt with by the opposition goalie. At the end of the match she looked quite beat up. While her seasonal statistical numbers are impressive, many of her goals were against weak defenses and this evening Penn State won the defensive battle and by sheer persistence emerged victorious.