Previewing Iowa Field Hockey
Head Coach Lisa Cellucci has the Iowa Field Hockey program planted amongst the best in the country over the last few seasons, as the Hawkeyes made four straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a Final Four trip in 2020. This past season, Iowa climbed the polls to #1 and stayed there for a majority of the season en route to a 16-1 regular season and a Big Ten regular season title.
Unfortunately, the good fortunes ran out and the Hawkeyes dropped their first game in the Big Ten Tournament, before falling in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament to eventual National Champion Northwestern. How often do they think about that final game?
“A lot. Like every day. We would walk up to practice in the spring, and they’d still have the scoreboard on from the last game,” said senior goalie Grace McGuire. “We don’t want to hang onto it in a negative way…Whatever people need to fuel the fire. Me personally I like it.”
“I think one thing we lost sight of last year, there was a lot of pressure, being ranked #1 and all of that, we were trying to keep that unbeaten streak going and we needed to just focus on the every day,” said Cellucci. “We have a really talented group, but we have to be able to get that much better every day.”
This season, the Hawkeyes return eight of eleven starters and are primed to once again be a contender on the national stage. Iowa faces Northwestern in an exhibition match on Saturday, before the season opener on August 26th against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.
Departures
It would be a lie to say that the Hawkeyes didn’t endure a couple of big departures this offseason. Maddy Murphy, Ellie Holley and Nikki Freeman combined for 266 career starts, while Meghan Conroy and Makenna McGuire were valuable contributors off the bench last year, playing in additional 114 career games.
Maddy Murphy departs as a five-time All-Big Ten and four-time NFHCA All-American selection, including 51 goals, 37 assists and 139 career points. Last season, Murphy scored seven goals and assisted an additional 13.
Ellie Holley was a three-time All-West Region and 2020 First Team All-Big Ten selection. Holley finished her Iowa career with 14 goals and 27 assists. She led the Hawkeyes last season in points with 27, including eight goals and 11 assists.
Nikki Freeman started 86 games over her career, including a career best six goals and six assists as a senior last season.
New Faces for the Hawkeyes
Coach Cellucci hit the transfer portal over the offseason and brought in a couple of fifth year seniors that are expected to have a big impact this season. MF Olivia Frazier comes over from Richmond, while MF/D Laura Drees transfers in from University Hildesheim in Germany.
Frazier was an All-Atlantic 10 selection the last two years with the Spiders, including eight goals and 12 assists. Cellucci called her one of the fittest players on the team and said she can “run for days”. Frazier will likely see time as a forward and midfielder this season.
“My main strength is my speed and then my work ethic. I’ll be anywhere and everywhere they need me on the field. On ball speed and my shooting is a strength as well,” said Frazier. This offseason Olivia says she has worked on her shooting, as well making sure she is fundamentally sound with all of the basics of field hockey.
MF/D Laura Drees played for Eintract Braunschweig in Germany and was named to the All-State team of Bremen and Lower Saxony all four years, while helping them to top three finishes in the league each year.
“Laura will definitely find time for us in our backfield,” said Cellucci. “She’s a really good distributor, with a lot of similarities to Anthe (Nijziel). She will really add to our set pieces and our penalty corners, especially offensively.”
MF/D Milly Short from Worcester, England is the lone true freshman on the roster. She was a two-time national finalist playing for Stourport Hockey Club and was the team captain for the U16 and U18 Stourport teams.
Talented Goaltenders
Last season, Grace McGuire was the only goalie to see time on the field and logged over 1200 minutes for the Hawkeyes. She held opponents to 0.75 goals per game and racked up an NCAA leading 11 shutouts on the season. McGuire was named a Second Team NFHCA All-American and was a Second Team All-Big Ten selection. Her most notable performance came against Michigan when she stopped four of the Wolverines five shots in the shootout that the Hawkeyes ultimately won.
“I have one of the best defenses in the country in front of me and they make it rather easy to do my job,” said McGuire. “Anthe and Lokke are two of the best backs I have ever played field hockey with. At times it makes it a little difficult because you don’t get the ball the whole game and then you’ve got one chance and you’ve really got to not mess up.”
Mia Magnotta redshirted last season and becomes an option behind McGuire this season. Out of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, Magnotta was a four-time All-State selection, including First-Team honors in her last three seasons. She helped lead Wyoming Seminary to three PIAA state titles and was recently selected to compete at USA Field Hockey’s 2023 U21 and Development Selection Camp.
Coach Cellucci is very confident in the two goalies she has saying, “Mia has really progressed, and we have the opportunity to possibly play both (goalies), which is really exciting.”
Elite Level Defense
“Defense has always been a hallmark of Iowa Field Hockey and it’s no different this year,” says Lisa Cellucci. Over the last four seasons (81 games), the Iowa defense has held opponents to just 0.975 goals per game, including an impressive 15 goals in 20 games last year.
The group is led by D Anthe Nijziel who has won Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons. She returns to lead the group as a senior after scoring five goals last season.
“It’s not just my award, it’s a team award. I wouldn’t be able to do it without Lokke next to me, Grace in goal and Harper at right back. It’s a great honor, but it’s more for the team,” said Nijziel. “We try to focus on organizing. Everyone has their own role and responsibilities and we’ve got to execute that individually. Then we’ve got to work to organize it from back to front.”
D Harper Dunne, MF Lokke Stribos and MF Lieve Schalk return after starting all 20 games and rarely leaving the field during Big Ten games. Stribos was a Second Team All-Big Ten selection. The aforementioned addition of Laura Drees only adds to the strength of the defense and Lisa Cellucci is confident that the Hawkeyes can match their numbers from last season.
“Super confident. I think we got even stronger with our defense when we added graduate student Laura Drees,” said Cellucci. “They’re ability, those players, to build the ball forward, which is really the beginning of our attack.”
Who’s scoring the goals?
The one concern for the Hawkeyes going into the season is where the goals are going to come from. Last season, Iowa was ranked third in the country averaging 3.30 goals per game, but 38% of the 66 goals scored last season are gone from the roster. If they are going to get back near the top in the country in goals, the coaching staff is going to need multiple players to step up and help replace the 25 goals lost.
F Ciara Smith figures to be one of the top goal scorers once again after jumping from two goals in 2020 to ten goals this past season. Lokke Stribos (8), Esme Gibson (6), Anthe Nijziel (5) and Leah Zellner (5) all return, but more is going to be needed to get the job done.
“Leah Zellner has been a four-year starter for us. She’ll probably play a little bit more up front,” said Cellucci. “Sofie Stribos will be moving up a line. She played a bigger role in our midfield, but this spring proved herself as our top goal scorer and then Annika Herbine was a freshman last year that saw some time. She’s probably one of our most crafty forwards and we’re going to rely on her to help us get some outcomes.”
(Esme Gibson) is going to be playing a little higher up on the field and she is just so unbelievably fast and talented that she is going to find herself in the circle a lot. I think they’re going to have so many more opportunities.”
Transfer Olivia Frazier is another name to keep an eye on when it comes to scoring goals and creating chances on the offensive side. Lisa Cellucci has a number of talented options that she is confident in, however they may have to rely on the defense early in the year if it takes some time to hit their offensive stride.
Leadership
The Hawkeyes lost a lot of experience with the loss of Murphy, Holley and Freeman, but another thing lost is the leadership from three players that combined for 266 starts. Coach Cellucci talked about some of the players that have stepped up to be leaders on this year’s team.
“Esme Gibson was voted one of our four team captains and she really stepped up. She was All-American last year too, but much more vocal leader right now on the field.”
“Anthe Nijziel always has been a leader for us. Lokke Stribos in the backfield and really Leah Zellner too up front. We have four captains and they have been doing a fantastic job.”
Tough Schedule
The season starts with the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Winston-Salem, where the Hawkeyes will face Wake Forest and North Carolina. The Demon Deacons finished ranked #25 last season, while the Tar Heels made an NCAA Tournament appearance and are a perennial power. James Madison and UMass are both underrated opponents, combining for a 25-13 record last year, while JMU came up one win short of an NCAA tournament appearance.
The schedule ratchets up even in more in conference play, as the Big Ten is the best field hockey conference in the country. At the conclusion of the season last year, the conference made up the top six in the RPI. This year, Iowa must travel to reigning national champion Northwestern, while they face tournament participants Michigan and Penn State away from Grant Field. Rutgers and Maryland are coming off tournament appearances and will travel to Iowa City.
“We play a very difficult schedule this year, so there’s really not very many easy games. Every game is going to be close until we really find out how we’re going to score goals,” said Cellucci. “You have to be able to play the stiffest competition to be ready for postseason because it’s one and done.”
Hypothetical Two Forward Starting Lineup
Main Subs – Annika Herbine, Alex Wesneski, Jacey Wittel, Ella Wareham, Ellie Flynn
GK – Grace McGuire
D – Anthe Nijziel, Harper Dunne
MF – Laura Drees, Lieve Schalk, Lokke Stribos
MF – Olivia Frazier, Sofie Stribos, Esme Gibson
F – Ciara Smith, Leah Zellner
“We had a bigger roster last year, but I think we have a little bit more depth this year,” said Cellucci. “Depending on the system or the structure we play, some of those people who started last year could be coming off the bench because we play only may play with two forwards and then another day three, then we’re having someone else in.”
“Jacey Wittel, Ella Wareham in our midfield, they’re definitely going to be seeing some time. Alex Wesneski up front, Ellie Flynn, so I think we’re going to have a little bit more rotation than we had (previously).”
Final Prediction
The preseason top 25 comes out on Tuesday, and it would be a shock to see Iowa outside the top 3-4. With the addition of Laura Drees to the defense and the major pieces returning, the Hawkeyes should once again be amongst the best in the nation in that department. The question will be, who is going to step up and join Ciara Smith as a consistent goal scorer? If players like Leah Zellner, Annika Herbine, Esme Gibson and others mentioned above can increase production, then this Iowa team should be in a similar position to last year.
It is difficult to predict the Hawkeyes to repeat at Big Ten regular season champions given the strength of the conference, but there is no doubt that they will be in the hunt for the entirety of the season. If everything goes well, there is no reason why they can’t host an NCAA regional for the second straight season and have homefield advantage for the first two rounds. Win those and they would make the trip to Storrs, Connecticut for the Final Four.