by Michael McCurdy
In past weeks, the Iowa field-hockey team has been hammered down by the rigorous competition of Big Ten play. That changes this weekend as the Hawkeyes welcome two nonconference teams for a pair of games.
Senior Chandler Ackers said she realizes the two teams this weekend are not nearly on the same level as their recent foes, Penn State, Maryland, and Louisville.
Nevertheless, the team must not overlook Central Michigan or Cal-Davis, because, she said, these games still have major implications for the season.
“We don’t think of them as lesser teams because they are still in our Midwest region,” Ackers said. “So, we need to make sure we win these games, because if we lost, it would really hurt us in our RPI and ranking for the rest of the season, along with Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament seedings.”
Today, the Hawkeyes will take on a 1-10 Central Michigan squad at 3 p.m. that is hungry for an upset. The Chippewas’ record is not as bad as it seems — they have played many quality teams so far this season, including Louisville, Michigan, and Michigan State.
Iowa must come into this game in attack mode, because it is a common theme in sports for teams to play down to their competition. That means the effort and intensity level must be high throughout the entire game.
Freshman Sophie Sunderland said she hopes last weekend’s success transitions into this weekend and to do that, the team must play hard the entire 70 minutes.
“We need to play really well for the entire 70 minutes; everyone needs to have a great team performance,” she said. “We got our first Big Ten win last weekend, so we want to continue into this weekend with that positive energy.”
After the Central Michigan game, the Hawkeyes play the Mustangs at 1 p.m. Oct. 9. Davis enters the match with a record of 3-8. Like Central Michigan, the Mustangs have also competed against stellar competition so far — Stanford, Maine, and Boston University.
The common theme for both games this weekend will be to come out strong while not overlooking the opponent. This may sound redundant, but Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci cannot stress enough the importance of coming away with two victories this weekend.
“We cannot take any opponent lightly because no one takes us lightly,” Cellucci said. “We’re preparing like we would be preparing to play Penn State or Maryland. That’s our mindset because next weekend we will be playing two top-10 opponents again. So, we’re approaching it as we need to keep getting better and better.”
After this weekend’s pair of games, the Hawkeyes go back on the road to visit Big Ten foes Northwestern and Michigan. If the Hawkeyes want to even think about winning both those contests, then they must take care of business this weekend against two teams hungry for upsets.
Follow @MMcurd for more information on the Iowa field-hockey team.
