There may have been a little bit more stress involved with the selection show this evening compared to the last couple of seasons, but the Iowa Field Hockey team is in the Field of 18. The Hawkeyes finished the regular season with an 11-6 record, but a first-round exit in the Big Ten Tournament and losses in six of their last nine games had them on the bubble. It is the 27th tournament appearance in program history.

The #10 seeded Hawkeyes will head to their home away from home in the Evanston Regional to face the #7 seeded Virginia Cavaliers in the first round match-up on Friday at 2:30pm. The host #2 Northwestern Wildcats will await the winner of Miami Ohio and Rider in the play-in game set for Wednesday. It will be Iowa’s fourth game in Evanston when you include their exhibition against Northwestern before the season began.

The Virginia Cavaliers enter the NCAA Tournament with a 13-7 record, including a 3-3 record in ACC play and are currently ranked #5 in the NFHCA Coaches Poll. They are 7-6 against teams in the tournament field, including wins over Wake Forest, St Joseph’s and Syracuse. They are led by F Laura Janssen and MF Daniela Mendez-Trendler. The two have combined for 19 goals on the season.

The host Northwestern Wildcats are very familiar to Iowa and were defeated by the Hawkeyes 2-0 back on September 23rd. The Cats are 17-4 on the season and made it to the Big Ten Tournament Title game, where they fell 2-1 against Michigan earlier today. Bente Baekers and Peyton Halsey have combined for 34 goals on the season.

Miami Ohio appears in the tournament after a 13-7 season and a MAC Tournament Title. They have a notable win over Ohio State and defeated Appalachian State 3-1 to earn the MAC autobid. They are led by the scoring duo of F Paula Pena Martinez (16 goals) and F Claudia Negrete Garcia (13 goals).

Rider enters the tournament with a 15-5 record and a Northeast Conference Title to their name. They defeated Saint Francis 2-0 and Fairfield 2-1 in OT en route to the NEC autobid. They are led by freshman F Valeria Perales who comes into the tournament with 18 goals scored.

The Hawkeyes join #2 seed Northwestern, #3 seed Maryland, #4 seed Michigan and #5 seed Penn State as Big Ten teams to reach the NCAA Tournament. Five bids ties the ACC for the most by a conference.

Keep an eye on HawkeyeReport later this week for more in-depth coverage of the Hawkeyes upcoming NCAA Tournament matchup against Virginia…