9 November 2026 Semifinal B1G Tournament

Before our regular season was even over, I suspected that the Big Ten rankings had little bearing on the actual strength of the teams. The Northwestern Wildcats were on another level than the rest, Michigan State was having their usual bottom finish, and Penn State were unusually weak even though they beat Iowa in overtime. As for the the other six of us Big Ten field hockey teams, anybody could beat anybody. And so the first day proved: the seventh seed Ohio State Buckeyes beat the second seed Maryland Terrapins 2-1, third seed Iowa had to fight hard to beat sixth seed Indiana 1-0, and Michigan was 2-1 over Rutgers. Which meant on Friday Michigan would have to face Northwestern, who had a bye the first day, and Iowa would have a rematch against the Buckeyes, whom we had so narrowly defeated just a week before in Columbus. I crashed the Michigan tailgate and was well received as of course I’d be cheering for the Wolverines to beat the ’Cats, wearing my blue souvenir British Hockey cap to blend in with the Michigan Go Blue!. Not surprisingly, Michigan lost but the final score line, 5-3, was unusually high scoring for a top level match.

It was a warm afternoon when the Hawks faced the Buckeyes and I was sitting high up in the row under the commentary booth, amused to see that Northwestern Coach Tracy Fuchs and her suite of assistants were on the same row to my right scouting their opponents for the final on Sunday. I expected the teams would be closely matched and OSU eager for revenge after their close loss last week in Columbus.

The Buckeyes were eager. In the third minute they penetrated the Hawkeye circle and a messy melee erupted in the ugly zone in front of the goal. With her ice hockey experience, Makenna Webster excels in such circumstances and she shot the ball in the net to put OSU ahead. The match continued with lots of movement. Both OSU and Iowa are very “physical” teams but the Buckeyes seemed stronger in using their front line to fight their way upfield. The Hawkeye combination of van Aalsum, van Cleef, and Zonnenberg relied more their speed to breakaway into the Bucks’ circle and in the last three minutes they succeeded when van Cleef penetrated for a penalty corner. This time the routine was different, whether intentional or otherwise, and after passing the ball around in the circle, van Cleef scored and the quarter ended even all at 1-1.

Not a minute into the second quarter, the Buckeyes got a shot on the Iowa goal but it went wide. A couple of minute later they got a penalty corner, but the shot by Katie Fichtner went wide. A few minutes later Iowa had their chance at another penalty corner. Van Aalsum’s shot was saved by OSU goalie Stevens, but the Hawks were awarded another try. Injection went to van Aalsum but her shot bounced around the circle and van Cleef scored the goal. Hawks were up one. Then in the last two minutes a shot by Rachel Herbine hit OSU’s Zella Bailey, who fell to the turf and gave Iowa another penalty corner. Van Aalsum’s shot was blocked but her teammate Lieve van Kessel put the ball into the net. Iowa’s Dutch players were having a good day as Iowa went up 3-1 at the half

The Buckeyes came back vigorously after the half, getting a penalty corner at four minutes in but failed to score. A minute later van Aalsum got a shot but it went wide left. Byers recovered possession for Iowa and van Assume shot again, this time wide right. Then the momentum shifted again to the Buckeyes. Webster took the ball into the Iowa circle and defending back Fortpied collided with her and the umpires awarded the Buckeyes a penalty stroke, the call when a foul prevented what should have been a certain goal. Suspense was thick as Zella Bailey approached the stroke mark and took her position, facing Mia Magnotta, making herself look big in the goal. Bailey’s stroke was well placed, just inside the goalie’s left post. But Magnotta read her intentions perfectly, and literally put her foot down to stop the ball. To the inexperienced observer it looks like the goalkeeper’s mind-reading, but as the player taking the stroke shifts her weight onto her left foot, she’s likely unconsciously signal where she is trying to put the ball. Top level international players like Yibbi Jansen can make deceptive body movements, but most NCAA players will give something away. Despite missing their easy chance to score, the Buckeyes continued to press, and gained another short corner. The shot by Katie Fichtner was wide, but the Bucks were soon threatening. The matchup between Makenna Webster and Iowa defender Millie Short seemed perfectly balanced, both physically imposing players—Short, a total gym rat and the strongest player on the Iowa team, the ideal counter to Webster. Though Webster won the corner, the OSU injection was off and Iowa seized possession and penetrated the Ohio State circle. At such moments the former attacker is most vulnerable, as most of their players are at what just became the wrong end of the pitch. But this time the Buckeyes were lucky to recover possession and the quarter ended with the scoring line the same and the Buckeyes with fifteen minutes to score two goals or to end their season. For this final quarter the Hawkeyes held. The Buckeyes managed two more penalty corners, but their first shot by Roberts went high, and on their second with less than two minute to go, they tried passing the ball around in the circle but the routine was too complex and Webster’s shot saved by Magnotta. And so ended the semi-finals. The Buckeyes would go home and in two days the Hawks would meet the ’Cats in the tournament championship. I couldn’t resist turning towards Tracy Fuchs, who had been sitting silently beside me, and saying, “See you at the showdown, Coach Fuchs.”

It might seem from the final score that Iowa played better than OSU, and that the Buckeyes failed to match their performance against us the previous Friday when the game went into second overtime. But statistically this time the Bucks had more chances to score than the Hawks. But what matters is the number of goals, and there Iowa accomplished something remarkable. They had only three penalty corners to OSU’s six, but Iowa turned all of theirs into goals, a remarkable achievement.