Iowa’s underclassmen shine in the weekend’s two matches.
By Michael McCurdy
Heading into the weekend Iowa had only one goal: come away with two victories. It did just that, and in the process learned a lot about the team as a whole.
Iowa went into the weekend focused on its first matchup, facing a pesky Fairfield squad that was hungry for an upset. The Hawkeyes quickly jumped out of the gate with many shot attempts but had a difficult time capitalizing.
Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci noted that the Hawks could not capitalize on their many goal attempts because the players got away from team passing.
“Friday, we were getting a little individual and going on one-versus-one battles; we really just need to be able to move the ball and get ahead,” she said. “That’s probably the biggest thing we will take from this weekend.”
Even though the Hawkeyes did not take advantage of their wide margin of shot attempts, they competed hard and in the end got the job done, defeating Fairfield, 4-1. Iowa forward Natalie Cafone led the game in scoring with two goals, one being an impressive display of her offensive arsenal where she side-stepped a defender and then showcased her imposing slap shot on the goalkeeper.
Cafone was pleased with the Sept. 2 win and also how the team stuck to its plan.
“We prepare the same way for every team; we basically wanted to come out on our home field, put a good product out, and be successful,” Cafone said. “In the end, I think we did just that.”
On Sunday, the Hawkeyes welcomed St. Louis to Iowa City. Iowa’s skill and athleticism were far too much for the Billikens to handle, and the Hawkeyes won, 11-0. Iowa had a whopping 39 shots on goal, which is unheard of in field hockey, to St. Louis’s two.
Iowa dominated in every facet of the game —passing, goal execution, defense, you name it.
Fans even had the pleasure of seeing two Hawkeyes acquire hat tricks, freshman Katie Birch and junior JoElla Guagliardo.
Birch seemed to be all over the field throughout the game — she is a defender, but that didn’t stop her from coming up to attack the Billiken net.
On the other hand, Guagliardo always seemed to put herself in the right position to succeed throughout the game. If an Iowa player had the ball in the scoring circle, Guagliardo would cut to the open spot for a pass and then complete the process with a goal.
Cellucci was very happy her younger players got some great minutes in this game. She said it is always good to get every player in the game, but what’s greater is knowing her players are going to compete and give it their all.
“I thought it was great; the athletes who got some time stuck to our game plan, and that’s really all we can ask for,” Cellucci said. “We gave some confidence to some people that we’re going to need later in the season.”
Iowa now sits at 3-1 and looks to continue its winning streak this weekend when it travels to Ohio to take on Kent State and Monmouth. The level of competition in Ohio will be much more challenging than this past weekend but nothing the team hasn’t already seen. With games against No. 1 North Carolina and No. 7 Wake Forest under their belts, the Hawkeyes won’t have wide eyes the rest of the season.
Follow @MMcurd for Iowa field-hockey news, updates, and analysis.
