Laughing and joking around could be heard at Grant Field this morning, along with good energy and positivity.
Although the Iowa Field Hockey team has lost four of their last six games, they are not letting it derail their season. The Hawkeyes still have two regular season games remaining and they are looking to get some positive momentum rolling before the postseason begins.
“The energy of this group has been great and hasn’t wavered all year,” said Coach Lisa Cellucci.
“There is no need to be upset for too long (about last weekend),” said senior Anthe Nijziel. “Yes, it was disappointing, but we’ve got to move on. We’ve still got a lot of hockey to play. That’s what we’re trying to focus on.”
The once third ranked Hawkeyes have fallen to 10-5 overall and suffered back-to-back shutout losses for the first time since 2015 this past weekend. For an Iowa program that has won 70 games over the last five seasons, including ten this season, four losses in the last three weekends is unfamiliar territory for this team.
“It definitely does feel unfamiliar, especially with the last four years,” said Coach Cellucci. “We talked to the team about changing the narrative to now we’re chasing instead of being chased. I think we actually excel in that area. We have in the past and that’s how we have to look at it right now.”
Anthe Nijziel has played in 96 games over five seasons with the Hawkeyes and is a veteran captain on the team. She talked today about being a motivator when she needs to be, but also at a time like this, being a calming presence as much as possible.
“Sometimes we do need a little bit of extra fire. I’ve been trying to give that to the team, but also just keeping the team calm when things don’t always go our way.”
The glaring issue over the last six games for Iowa has been the offense. The Hawkeyes have scored just five goals over the last six games, including zero over the last two. The good fortune of scoring goals on minimal chances early in the year has gone by the wayside. However, none of the issues currently present are unfixable.
“I totally agree (they are fixable),” said leading goal scorer Alex Wesneski. “I think we just need to get back to our principles of play and how we play Iowa field hockey.”
While it’s simple to say Iowa needs more shots, more shots on goal and more penalty corners, Coach Cellucci the key to scoring goals starts at a different point. Possession. Unfortunately, over the last couple of weeks, the Hawkeyes have been plagued by uncharacteristic play that has lost them possession of the ball.
“(The key) is way more possession. Our first pass priority in transition has to be a possession pass and it hasn’t been. Then it’s our off-ball movement to just join and support,” said Cellucci. “Just really some uncharacteristic errors in our transition game. We’ve really been scratching our heads about that. We have to get back at what we’re good at.”
“(Defensively) A lot of the time we come up with the ball and then we try to play a difficult ball lose the ball straight right after,” said Anthe Nijziel. “Just need to find that rhythm. The passing game up front, so we can get some more opportunities in the offensive 25.”
After nine games this season, the Hawkeyes had converted on 15 of 51 penalty corners (29.4%). Over the last six games, Iowa is just 1 for 24 (4.2%) on the penalty corner attack. For the offense to get back on track, the penalty corner group has to start taking advantage of chances.
“Unfortunately, there were some errors on the execution (of some corners), so we didn’t even get some quality shots off,” said Cellucci. “It’s repetition, its practice, it’s going back to the scout and coming up with some new options that we can expose the other team with.”
Alex Wesneski says when they are in the scoring circle, small details can be the difference between a chance and a turnover. “I think decision making in the circle is a big one. Whether that’s finding a foot to earn a corner or just the skill you decide to apply. When are you orientating your body to goal? I think those are small things that make a really big difference.”
Defense has never been an issue for the Hawkeyes, but Anthe Nijziel says that they could be doing better. Over the last six games, they have allowed nine goals, while teams are averaging 11.6 shots per game.
“We haven’t really been defending as a unit. When it has broken down, it’s very individual and we saw on film. There are just a lot of things that we need to get better at for us to be defending as a unit.”
The next challenge for the Hawkeyes is a Michigan team that dominated them on Sunday in what Alex Wesneski said was the team’s worst performance of the season. The Wolverines controlled the pace of the game, possessed the ball and pressured Iowa heavily when they had it. They outshot Iowa 21-3, got 10 penalty corners and ultimately won 2-0. The game Sunday in Evanston will not count in the Big Ten standings, but the challenge will not be any easier and the importance is the same. The off day coming on Friday has allowed the Hawkeyes to recover, as well as take a good look at the Michigan game.
“It has us really examining the game with Michigan,” said Cellucci. “We’re able to really see some good things to fix out of it, mainly with our transition game and that’s what we’re going to have to be better.”
Iowa finishes up the regular season with an unusual non-conference matchup against Michigan before coming home for a final home game against Michigan State on October 28th. The goal for the Hawkeyes is to get some type of positive momentum going before postseason play begins with the Big Ten Tournament in November.
“I definitely think coming out on Sunday and beating Michigan would be a nice reset for us,” said Wesneski. “We also have one more Big Ten game against Michigan State on our own field, the last opportunity to play at Grant Field. Just come out finishing strong on the year and then be able to go into the postseason with some momentum.”
The Big Ten Tournament is set for November 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio, while the NCAA Tournament begins on November 11th at four regional host sites.
