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IOWA CITY, Iowa — In its seventh shutout of the season, the 10th-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team beat No. 21 Stanford, 3-0, on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Grant Field. Three different Hawkeyes scored goals to snap Stanford’s eight-game win streak.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hawkeyes recorded only one penalty corner and one shot in the first 14 minutes of play, before Iowa found its groove off a Stanford turnover. Assisted by junior forward Ryley Miller, sophomore midfielder Maddy Murphy scored her team-leading 10th goal of the season on a pass from the right side. Iowa rattled off four more shots in the next 13 minutes, before capitalizing on a penalty corner in the 27th minute. This time, sophomore midfielder Mya Christopher redirected an Anthe Nijziel shot to put the Hawkeyes up 2-0 heading into halftime.
“With the ball that Anthe gave into me today, I got the tip on it,” Christopher said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”
The Hawkeyes didn’t look back and kept the pressure on in the second half, recording nine shots and four penalty corners. Iowa’s defense did what they do best, allowing only two shots all game and a penalty corner in the 70th minute.
Stanford’s goalkeeper Kelsey Bing made three second-half saves, but Iowa sealed the game away with five minutes remaining on Sophie Sunderland‘s sixth goal of the season. Again off a penalty corner, Sunderland redirected Nijziel’s shot to cap off a 3-0 Iowa victory.
“It was a huge win,” Christopher said. ” We felt like we dominated on Friday, so it was tough to see us outshooting and outplaying (Michigan) and not come away with the win. Today was really important to finish in our attacking third and get the outcome we deserved.”
QUOTING COACH CELLUCCI
“The elements weren’t even a factor for us today. Of course it was cold and rainy, but we’ll take that; that’s hockey weather. To bounce back from a tough game on Friday against Michigan where we thought we played really well. We repeated the effort today. We were dominant. Our defense was outstanding to not give up a shot or a penalty corner until the very end of the game to Stanford was absolutely unbelievable. We stuck to the game plan and put in some very nice corner goals, which was great to see.”
“We had a number of people roll in off the bench who gave us some great minutes. We put Stanford’s defense under a lot of pressure. They have one of the best goalkeepers in the country. We were able to pepper her and then again, the corners were where we executed. It was great to have so much production from a lot of different people.”
HAWKEYE NOTABLES
- The Hawkeyes snapped Stanford’s eight-game win streak to move to 11-3 on the season and 5-1 at Grant Field.
- Iowa improved to 7-0 when they score three or more goals.
- All three Iowa goals were assisted on today. Thirty-two assists have been recorded on 39 Hawkeye goals this season.
- Iowa had seven penalty corner attempts to Stanford’s one and out shot the Cardinal 17-2.
- Junior goalkeeper Leslie Speight recorded her conference-leading seventh shutout of the season to improve to 11-3. Speight and the Hawkeye defense have only allowed 10 goals in 13 games this season.
- Mya Christopher has scored in back-to-back games to increase her season total to three goals.
- Maddy Murphy recorded her team-leading 10th goal of the season to tie her season total from last year.
- Anthe Nijziel’s two assists today were the first of her career.
UP NEXT
Iowa’s homestand continues next weekend with two top-10 Big Ten matchups. Iowa will face No. 7 Penn State on Friday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. (CT) and No. 2 Maryland on Sunday, Oct. 14 at noon (CT). Sunday’s game will be televised on BTN.
