23 October
The very first Iowa Hawkeye field hockey match that I attended was Senior Day in 2016, appropriately my birthday. Iowa beat Michigan State 5-3, a not unusual outcome for a game against the Spartans. But only a year ago I followed the Hawks to East Lansing and on a wet and miserable made worse by having to endure listening to the Spartan Marching Band practice, saw Iowa defeated in an overtime shootout. And now the Spartans had just scored another remarkable overtime upset by beating the Ohio State Buckeyes 4-3. So we could be confident that Iowa would not anticipate an easy victory. For reasons never explained, the match was taking place on a Thursday at six pm.

Before long in the first quarter, Iowa struck, with a pass in the second minute from Byers to van Cleef that yielded a field goal. And van Cleef scored again in the three minutes later with a lovely reverse stick backhand shot. Ten minutes in Iowa’s van Kessel got a shot which was blocked and a few seconds later Rachel Herbine got another that was saved by the Lyra Gravino the Michigan State goalie. The quarter ended with Iowa ahead 2-nil.

Less than a minute into the second quarter, Iowa’s offense resumed their goal fest when van Cleef passed to van Kessel, who scored. Barely more than a minute later, Zonnenberg was given a PC for Iowa. Michigan State requested a video review and the umpire’s decision was upheld. Van Aalsum’s shot was blocked but in the succeeding melee Milly Short took a shot that was blocked as well. A couple of minutes later Gia Whalen attempted a shot but it went wide of the goal. Then after another minute van Aalsum scored, her twenty-second goal of the season.

Watching from the bleachers and looking out over the brightly lit pitch surrounded by gathering darkness, I felt that the Spartans defense was absolutely porous, the Hawks could score almost at will. It was almost the same feeling I’d had in the first half of our match against Louisville, but without the same spirit. There it felt Iowa was playing against a good team but were conducting themselves like a great team.. Now Iowa were performing at their usual level but the Spartans were having a, bad night.

Iowa scored twice more in the second corner, a field goal by Lexie Haig and a penalty corner for Milly Short. Immediately, the Spartans changed goalkeepers, putting in Ashley Herbert for Gravino. Perhaps that change made a difference, because Iowa went scoreless for the rest of the match, with only three more shots on goal, all saved by the reserve Michigan State goalie. With a 6-0 lead, the Hawks had little need to exert themselves. But I suspect the prospect of facing the Michigan Wolverines the following Sunday may have encouraged Coach Lisa to relax the press and take fewer chances with a clearly won game.
For Iowa this victory angered little about their chances for the remainder of the season. If they could go on to beat Michigan, their place in the Big Ten Tournament was insured, though a good seed would require beating Ohio ?State as well. I felt bad for Michigan State though. Despite beating us last year and their surprise upset victory over Ohio State—bad weather is a potent equalizer—they remained a habitual doormat in the Big Ten despite always putting up a good fight.