No. 6 Iowa overpowers IU field hockey team

Last November, Iowa ended IU’s season with an 8-2 victory in the Big Ten Tournament. In the Hoosiers’ first chance for revenge this season, it was more of the same.

The No. 6 Hawkeyes (7-2) overpowered IU (5-4) with a 6-1 victory Friday afternoon at the IU Field Hockey Field.

The Hoosiers played on their heels most of the day with only one shot on goal in the first 52 minutes. By the time sophomore Lena Grote scored IU’s lone goal in the 60th minute, Iowa was on cruise control with six scores of their own.

Hawkeye senior Lauren Pfeiffer, who led the Big Ten in shots per game going into the day, added nine more to her total, including two goals. By contrast, the Hoosiers only had 10 shots total.  

Senior back Dani Castro had a busy day against the constant Hawkeye offensive attack. She was disappointed by the Hoosiers’ own offensive woes.

“I think that we broke down with our structure and with our offensive attack,” Castro said. “It starts with the back, and we didn’t put it together.”

Iowa scored its first goal in the 11th minute and added another goal late in the first period to take a 2-0 halftime lead. The Hoosiers’ only real opportunity to score in the first half came in the last minute, when a shot attempt by Grote slammed off the goal post.

After the intermission, the Hawkeyes scored in the 43rd minute and added three goals in a three-and-a-half minute span to pad the lead.

“I’m extremely unhappy,” said IU coach Amy Robertson. “I don’t think we played the way we are capable of playing. I thought we got tired. ... Today we forced the play, and it was definitely not our best game. Iowa’s a great team, but I think we did part of this to ourselves.”

Grote echoed her coach’s sentiments, saying the players, especially the forwards, did not play to their full potential.

“Being a forward is all about putting it in (the goal) when you have the opportunity,” she said. “We didn’t really do so today. It’s definitely a hard loss, because we could’ve definitely competed with Iowa.”

With Iowa being a contender for the Big Ten title, Robertson said the Hoosiers had nothing to lose in this game. However, with only five conference games remaining, it is important for the team to rebound quickly.

“We have to get our confidence back,” Robertson said. “I think that (the Iowa game) will probably light a little fire under us, and we’ll step up the intensity for the next game.”

That next game will be on Friday against No. 10 Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich.