As the 2017 season draws to a close, the seniors reflect on their roles and their time in the Iowa field-hockey program.

By Taylor McNitt
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This year, Iowa field hockey sports four seniors.

Each has played in every game so far this season, and all but one has played in every game since their freshman year.

“All of them have played a large role on the team for the last four seasons,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “They’ve been consistent starters, have played a lot of minutes, and they’ve been asked to play a lot of different positions in their careers, which isn’t always easy. They’re very flexible, just wonderful people to have on the team, and we’ll be sad to see them go.”

Each has played a different and equally important role for the team, but leadership is one intangible void the seniors fill night in and night out.

“My role … has been to keep the team compact, together, but also to have kind of a leadership role in a way that we’re still taking every competition seriously and staying on target,” said forward and midfielder Mallory Lefkowitz.

Lefkowitz, a native of Kingston, Pennsylvania, touts quite the record to boost her leadership authority.

In 2012, she was a National Indoor Tournament Silver Medalist, Pennsylvania Indoor Field Hockey Gold Medalist, Junior Olympian, and a National Futures Participant.

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Defense and midfielder Taylor Omweg sports a similar résumé.

She was a two-time Junior Olympian and a three-time National Futures Championship participant. Last season, she was selected to compete in USA Field Hockey’s 2016 Young Women’s National Championship, and over the course of her career at Iowa, she’s racked up 10 points.

“It’s been different. There’s been more responsibility than being an underclassman,” Omweg said. “It’s weird being the oldest people on the team. Four years go by a lot faster than you think. I don’t think it’s even hit me that I’m a senior yet.”

And who can blame her? Just a few years ago, the Yorktown, Virginia, native was walking onto Grant Field for the first time with her high-school classmate and teammate Melissa Progar, a midfielder.

For Progar, even with a familiar face from home, the team as a whole has been one of her deepest connections at Iowa.

“I think the team and the coaches are more of a family than they are my teammates and my coaches,” said Progar. “The opportunities we’ve had too, to travel across the country, is really cool.”

Since taking the field with the Hawkeyes, she’s registered 34 points.

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As players, all three of these Hawkeyes developed significantly since becoming part of the Iowa team.

The fourth senior, goalkeeper Katie Jones, ended up being one of the most developed players in her tenure at Iowa.

“You learn a lot along the way,” the Virginia Beach, Virginia, native said. “It’s actually interesting being a goalkeeper and a senior, just the leadership position on the field, how much you have to talk — and then having the experience of a senior is just really nice.”

In high school, Jones was a four-year starter at goalkeeper with 54 career shutouts, as well as a Virginia AAA State Champion in 2011 and 2012 and a runner-up in 2013.

Since coming to Iowa, she’s made 78 saves and has recorded two shutouts so far, and she was selected to compete in USA Field Hockey’s 2016 Young Women’s National Championship.

“The high ‘highs’, they’re really good,” Jones said. “The wins are just really good, and then the relationships you build with the coaches and your teammates along the way have been really fun, really good.”