No. 7 Hawkeyes Fall to No. 11 Northwestern

October 5, 2014

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The seventh-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team (8-3, 2-1) came up short Sunday, 3-1, against 11th-ranked Northwestern (9-3, 4-0) at Grant Field in Iowa City. The loss marked Iowa’s first defeat at home this season.

“We didn’t execute the game plan,” said UI head coach Lisa Cellucci. “I was disappointed with our defensive presence. You can’t give up 10 corners to a team like Northwestern; it had us on our heels for the first 20 minutes of the game. We need to watch the film and learn from the loss.”

A pair of goals had the Hawkeyes playing from behind, 2-0, in the opening eight minutes trailing the Big Ten-leading Wildcats.

“We came out flat, we’re going to work on it all week to make sure it doesn’t happen against Michigan,” said Cellucci. “Northwestern is definitely one of the top teams defensively. Yes, they’re ranked 11th, but they’ve beat Maryland and they’ve been right there in every single game they’ve played. We knew it was going to be a good battle today.”

UI junior Natalie Cafone pulled the Hawkeyes to within a score, 2-1, in the 12th minute netting her 15th goal on the season. The Hawkeyes entered the half with just two shots on the scoreboard after averaging over nine per period coming into the match.

“We we’re having a difficult time possessing the ball on multiple passes,” said Cellucci. “We we’re giving the ball up on the worst possible places on the field and that really hurt us. If we could have been able to build the ball and hold the ball longer to stretch out some of our possessions, it could have been a whole different ball game.

“We have to learn from this game and we have to have a better defensive presence,” said Cellucci. “If we do that, we have so many parts of our game that can put pressure on teams.”

Although scoreless, the numbers improved in the second half for the Hawkeye offense tallying six second-half shots and a pair of penalty corners.

The Wildcats sealed the win in the 64th minute netting their final goal to take a 3-1 lead with 5:29 left in the period.

The Hawkeyes return to action Friday at 7 p.m. (CT) hosting Michigan (8-4, 3-1) on Grant Field.