If you've read this column for a little while, you'll know we generally like to spread the spotlight around. There are a lot of great Hawkeye athletes and it's always a goal to highlight as many of them as we can.

However, when a team is ranked #1, and they have a freshman superstar who notched a pair of four-goal (!!) games, they get dibs on the spotlight, even if it was theirs last week as well.

Rules are rules.

Let's jump right in.

Iowa field hockey (6-0) picked up a pair of dominating wins last week, 8-0 over Central Michigan (1-4) and 5-1 over UMass Lowell (3-2). The Hawks kicked off the weekend with a dominating performance Friday afternoon. The defense was again suffocating, as they have been all season, holding the opposition to zero shots.

The star of the show though was once again Freshman Dionne van Aalsum. van Aalsum scored twice in the 14th minute, following up her opening goal with another just twenty seconds later. Unsatisfied with her 5th straight multi-goal game, she added another goal in the second quarter, assisted by Esme Gibson, and then slotted home a fourth goal in the 31st minute.

The rest of the Hawkeye offense got in on the fun as well, with goals from Miranda Jackson (23rd minute, 57th minute), Tess Reed (25th), and Sofie Stribos (33rd). It was the first four-goal game by a Hawkeye since 2016, and the first hat trick in almost four years.

The Hawkeyes would not have to wait that long for their next.

Sunday's game was more of the same for the Hawkeyes as they cruised to a 5-1 win over UMass Lowell. Again van Aalsum kicked off the scoring, this time in the 4th minute. Lieve van Kessel added a second goal in the 11th. The Hawks kept up the early pressure and van Aalsum found her second goal of the game just before the end of the first quarter. The River Hawks scored to open the second quarter, the first goal given up by the Hawkeyes in four games.

The defense clamped down after the first goal, denying UMass Lowell a goal for the rest of the match. Early in the second half, van Aalsum again found the back of the net, this time unassisted for her second hat-trick of the weekend, and then added the cherry on top with a 59th-minute goal, giving her a second four-goal outing in as many games.

In case you've lost track of everything van Aalsum has done since she arrived on campus (and it's a lot so no shame if you're struggling to keep up), she now has at least two goals in all six games this season, back-to-back four-goal games, and sixteen goals in six games. For some historical perspective, the Iowa freshman record for goals was set by Kristy Gleason, a four-time All-American considered the best to ever play at Iowa, when she scored 27 in 1989.

With eleven regular season games remaining plus the conference and national tournaments, van Aalsum has a real chance to chase down that record. After that, the records get a bit more gaudy. The record for goals in a season by a Hawkeye is held by Ellen Egan, who scored an incredible 42 goals in the 1983 season.

It's almost impossible to overstate Dionne van Aalsum's performance to start the season. It brings to mind Caitlin Clark in terms of domination from the jump and production regardless of the competition.

Yes, this week's games were against lower competition, but van Aalsum scored twice in games against #1 North Carolina, #12 Wake Forest, and #19 Albany as well. If she was under the radar for opposing coaches, that time has long passed.

Coach Cellucci has praised her instincts in front of net and the entire team seems to be feeding off of her extraordinary start. Her performance unsurprisingly earned her Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors, already her third Freshman of the Week award.

She was also named National Player of the Week by the NFHCA (National Field Hockey Coaches Association) after her 8-goal outburst:

Perhaps the scariest part for the Hawkeyes' upcoming opponent is that this team isn't just a one-woman show. The defense has been as impressive as van Aalsum's offense, shutting out opponents and producing lopsided shot disparities, leading the nation in shutouts (4) and ranking second in scoring margin (3.84).

Field Hockey is often a low-scoring affair, games including van Aalsum notwithstanding, so having a strong defense that controls the tempo of a game will pay huge dividends as the Hawks look to put together a magical season. Right now, the Hawkeyes are a wall at the back while peppering the opposition with shots at the offensive end. They're jumping on opponents early, often putting them on the back foot before they've settled in. It's a simple, if hard-to-execute strategy, but these Hawkeyes look more than capable of pulling it off game in and game out.

Iowa will face Vermont on Friday (3:00, BTN+) and Merrimack College on Sunday (1:00, BTN+) in their final tune-ups before conference play.

Iowa soccer put up another solid week last week, playing #18 Virginia (5-0-2) to a 0-0 draw and beating George Mason (0-8) 3-0. Thurday's match against Virginia was a hard-fought defensive stalemate. Iowa generated some strong attacks in the first half, putting up four shots, but couldn't find the net. Virginia flipped the script in the 2nd half, sending eleven shots at the Hawkeyes, but Macy Enneking was more than up to the task, notching a pair of saves to preserve the clean sheet, Iowa's fifth of the season. Enneking now has 14 clean sheets in her career.

The Hawks turned the offense on for Sunday's match against George Mason. Iowa registered 25 shots in the game, including four in the first ten minutes of the game. Elle Otto fired a shot into the back of the net in the 9th minute to give Iowa the early lead. The lead would be doubled in the 37th minute when Delaney Holtey slotted one into the back of the net. Samantha Carey added a 78th-minute header to seal the game. The Hawkeye defense was again solid, allowing only a single shot on goal.

Iowa soccer closed out their non-conference slate undefeated, an impressive feat for a team that was near the bottom of the conference before their Cinderella run a few years back. The Hawks are controlling the game from the defensive end, which has been a staple for the team over the last three seasons, but are starting to find the offensive power to match.

Macy Enneking is continuing to put together an impressive career in net, moving into a tie for third all-time at Iowa with her 15th clean sheet on Sunday and Samantha Carey was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week.

The rest of the country is starting to take notice as well, as the Hawkeyes were ranked #23 in this week's Top Drawer Soccer rankings. The Hawkeyes won't be satisfied with the solid non-conference record and will look to start the conference schedule off on the right foot when they take on Illinois (4-2-1) this Sunday (1:00, BTN+).

Hawkeye volleyball (6-4) split four matches last week, losing a five-set heartbreaker to Iowa State (7-1), bouncing back with a pair of wins over Central Michigan (5-4) and Missouri State (4-5), and falling in straight sets to Grand Canyon (5-4)to close the weekend.

The Hawks jumped out to an early two-set lead against the Cyclones, winning set one 26-24 and set two 25-18. The Hawks nearly closed out the match in straight sets, but lost the third set, 26-24. The Cyclones took control from there, winning the fourth set 25-18 and the fifth set 15-9. Caitlin Buettner continued her strong hitting performance this season, racking up 23 kills and hitting .545. Sydney Dennis put together a strong match in the back row, notching 18 digs.

Iowa responded well against Central Michigan, winning the match in a convincing 3-1 fashion. The Hawks again took the first two sets, 25-17 and 25-20. After allowing the Chippewas to take set three 25-18, Iowa recovered to shut the door, and won the fourth set, 25-23.

It was nice to see the Hawkeyes show resilience after a tough mid-week loss to ISU and when Central Michigan threatened to recreate the same script, the Hawks this time fought back to earn the win. Anna Davis and Gabby Deery each recorded 11 kills in the match.

Against Missouri State the Hawks battled to split the first two sets, taking set one 25-19 and dropping set two, 25-21. Again, the Hawks showed strong resilience, claiming sets three and four by matching 25-21 scores. Bailey Ortega put up a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs.

The Hawks kept the pressure up throughout the match and didn't let a dropped set snowball into a match loss. It's still a young team for the Hawkeyes and learning how to win is as important as the fundamentals. The weekend's resilience was a good sign for a program still building its team culture.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they ran into a wall in Sunday's match against Grand Canyon. GCU controlled the match through all three sets, winning 25-18, 25-14, and 25-16. The Hawks will travel for the Syracuse Invitational next week, taking on Syracuse (1-6) on Friday (6:00, BTN+) and Cornell (1-6) on Saturday (1:00)

Iowa golf competed in the ANF Fall Classic last week, where Mac McClear defended his title. McClear finished the tournament at -12 after shooting a pair of 67s in the second and third rounds. He birdied six holes in a row and one point during the final round and has now won six tournaments in his career, tied with Lonnie Neilsen for most all-time in Iowa history.

Noah Kent finished tied for 11th for the Hawkeyes, finishing at +1, while Hogan Hansen was just behind at +3 (T-16). The Hawks will travel to Chicago next week to participate in the Chicago Highlands Collegiate Tournament.

Iowa cross country took part in the Badger Classic last weekend, with the men's team finishing 5th and the women's team placing 6th. Miles Sheppard was the top finisher on the men's side, finishing the 8,000-meter race in a career-best 24:38.3 and placing 9th overall. Hayden Kuhn and Will Ryan also set personal bests in their races.

On the women's side, the Hawks were paced by Amber Aesoph, who finished 35th with a time of 19:09.3. The Women's team will be the only team in action next week as they travel to Normal for the Redbird Invite on the 15th.