Iowa Releases 2013 Fall Schedule

May 6, 2013

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa field hockey team released the details of its 2013 schedule Monday. The Hawkeyes will face six NCAA Tournament teams next season, including NCAA runner-up North Carolina at Grant Field in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

“Once again, we are excited about our upcoming season,” said UI head coach Tracey Griesbaum, who has guided Iowa to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and six in her Hawkeye tenure. “The non-conference schedule is very solid, but we never look past an opponent and 2013 will be no exception.

“The Big Ten Conference is an incredible conference to be a part of. We are looking forward to embarking on another challenging season in less than four months.”

Iowa opens the season with a pair of scrimmages, playing at Ball State on Aug. 22 before hosting Missouri State on Aug. 25. Five days later, the Hawkeyes head to Easton, Pa., for a neutral site game against Bucknell to open the regular season before squaring off with NCAA qualifier Lafayette College on Sept. 1.

On Sept. 7-8, Iowa will host the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Grant Field with Wake Forest, Michigan and North Carolina coming to Iowa City. The Hawkeyes open play against Wake Forest on Sept. 7 before facing North Carolina a day later. The Tar Heels finished 23-2 in 2012, falling to Princeton in the national championship game.

Iowa’s home stand continues the following weekend with two more home dates. The Hawkeyes face Central Michigan on Sept. 13 and Stanford on Sept. 15. The Cardinal were an NCAA Tournament squad a season ago, finishing with a 16-7 record to go along with a NorPac regular season and tournament title.

The Hawkeyes begin a four-game road stint Sept. 21 with a neutral site game against Drexel, an NCAA qualifier, in Kent, Ohio. The following day, Iowa faces Kent State at 11 a.m. (CT). On Sept. 27, Big Ten play begins with a road date at Northwestern and a week later (Oct. 5), the Hawkeyes travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to face Michigan — the team’s fifth NCAA foe.

Iowa then returns to Grant Field for three games in six days from Oct. 7-13. The squad opens play against Missouri State on Oct. 7 before facing Indiana (Oct. 11) and Pacific (Oct. 13).

On Oct. 18, the Hawkeyes begin their final regular season road trip with a date in Columbus, Ohio, against Ohio State. Two days later, Iowa will play Miami (Ohio) in Oxford in its regular season road finale.

The Hawkeyes host three contests at Grant Field to close out the season, facing reigning Big Ten regular season and tournament champion Penn State on Oct. 25, UC Davis (Oct. 27) and Michigan State (Nov. 2). The Nittany Lions advanced to the Elite Eight in 2012.

The 2013 Big Ten Tournament will be held at Ohio State’s Buckeye Varsity Field from Nov. 7-10. The first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be held Nov. 16-17 and the Final Four will be contested Nov. 22 and Nov. 24 on the campus of Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va.

Iowa is coming off a season where it posted a 14-7 record and finished tied for second in the Big Ten Conference. The Hawkeyes made their 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance, the most of any school as a member of the Big Ten, and had a pair of NFHCA All-America honorees.