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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The eighth-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team fell in its regular season home finale, 2-1, to No. 2 Maryland on Sunday at Grant Field. The Hawkeyes own a 4-3 conference record and are 12-4 overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Iowa had three penalty corners in the first 12 minutes, but failed to convert on any of them. Anthe Nijziel and Makenna Grewe put shots on goal, but Maryland’s goalkeeper Sarah Holliday saved both. Iowa goalkeeper Leslie Speight made a diving save in the 23rd minute to keep the game scoreless. Nikki Freeman had a good look in the 29th minute, but Holliday made her third save of the half. Maryland’s Brooke DeBerdine broke the scoreless tie two minutes before the half to put the Terrapins up 1-0 heading into the second half.
The Hawkeyes started the second half strong, registering four penalty corners in the first 11 minutes of the second half. On back-to-back penalty corners, the Hawkeyes got an equalizer from sophomore Ellie Holley, who took a pass from Maddy Murphy and fired a shot from the top of the circle to score her second goal of the season and tie the game at one. Maryland came storming back and went ahead 2-1 in the 49th minute on a redirect goal from a pass outside the circle.
Iowa tried to claw its way back, but couldn’t get a good look down the stretch. The Hawkeyes were forced to play with 10 players for 10 minutes late in the second half after Katie Birch was issued a yellow card.
QUOTING COACH CELLUCCI
“We can’t play down for 17 minutes. The cards really hurt us today. With all of the things that didn’t go in our favor, we still had a lot of momentum and still controlled parts of the game. Our penalty corner execution has to be better and we have to limit our fouling; that was a big piece of it today.”
On four-game home stand against nationally ranked opponents:
“Our goal was to go 4-0, but it was great to get some wins out of that. That’ll help propel us forward in the national conversation. We needed this one today. I think we’re building and building and we have to go get Rutgers next weekend. It was great to be home for two weeks and not have to travel and to get these quality opponents on Grant Field.”
HAWKEYE NOTABLES
- Iowa finished its four-game home stand 2-2. All four opponents were ranked 21st or better with three in the top six.
- The Hawkeyes had eight penalty corners to the Terrapins’ two.
- Ellie Holley scored her second goal of the season.
- Maddy Murphy recorded her seventh point of the weekend with an assist today.
UP NEXT
Iowa finishes the regular season on the road in Piscataway, New Jersey, to face No. 14 Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 19at 3 p.m. (CT). Following the regular season finale, Iowa has a week off before the Big Ten Tournament begins on Oct. 28.
