Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | Hawk Talk Monthly — November | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch: Cash Wilcke
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Head coach Lisa Cellucci and four University of Iowa field hockey student-athletes — senior Katie Birch, junior Maddy Murphy, sophomore Anthe Nijziel, and senior Ryley Miller — earned Big Ten Conference postseason recognition as announced by the league office Wednesday.
Cellucci, who led Iowa to a 13-4 (7-1) regular season record along with Iowa’s 13th Big Ten Regular season title, was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. She becomes Iowa’s first Big Ten Coach of the Year since 2004.
Birch was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection and Murphy was also selected to the first team, while Nijziel was named to the second team. Miller was honored as Iowa’s recipient for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Birch was one of only three unanimous selections to this year’s first team and Iowa’s first since Natalie Cafone in 2016. The Hawkeyes have had six unanimous first-team selections since 2004. A native of York, England, it is her fourth career Big Ten postseason honor and second career first-team selection. She led the team and tied for the third-most assists in the conference with 10. Birch ranked second on the team in goals (6) and points (22).
Murphy’s first-team selection is the second of her career and third Big Ten postseason honor. The Raina, Tasmania, native led the team with 11 goals, which ranked fourth-best in the Big Ten. She also tallied nine assists to tie for the fourth-most in the conference. Murphy’s 31 points were the fourth-most in the Big Ten.
It is Nijziel’s second career Big Ten postseason honor after being named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team a year ago. Like Birch and Murphy, Nijziel started all 17 games in the regular season. The Eindhoven, Netherlands, native was an integral part of Iowa’s defense and recorded six goals and 13 points.
The Hawkeyes begin postseason play as the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday against seventh-seeded Ohio State at 1 p.m. (CT) in University Park, Pennsylvania.
2019 Field Hockey All-Big Ten Teams
First Team
KATIE BIRCH, SR., M, IOWA
Maddy Murphy, Jr., F, IOWA
Emma DeBerdine, Fr., F, MD
Bodil Keus, Jr., D, MD
MADISON MAGUIRE, SR., F, MD
GUADALUPE FERNANDEZ LACORT, SR., M, MICH
Halle O’Neill, Jr., D, MICH
Bente Baekers, Fr., F, NU
Mackenzie Allessie, Fr., M, OSU
Katie Larmour, Jr., M, RU
Gianna Glatz, Jr., GK, RU
Second Team
Hailey Couch, So., F, IND
Anthe Nijziel, So., D, IOWA
Meg Dowthwaite, Sr., F, MICH
Kathryn Peterson, So., M, MICH
Anna Spieker, So., GK, MICH
Kayla Blas, So., D, NU
Saar De Breij, Sr., M, NU
Esther Clotet Alsina, Sr., M, OSU
Madison Morano, Sr., M, PSU
Anna Simon, So., D, PSU
Austyn Cuneo, Sr., D, RU
Player of the Year: Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort, MICH
Offensive Player of the Year: Madison Maguire, MD
Defensive Player of the Year: Bodil Keus, MD
Freshman of the Year: Bente Baekers, NU
Coach of the Year: Lisa Cellucci, IOWA
Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Grace Sensenig, IND
Ryley Miller, IOWA
Hannah Menge, MD
Clare Brush, MICH
Makenzie Brown, MSU
Kirsten Mansfield, NU
Jennica Jonovich, OSU
Madison Hutson, PSU
Alanna Gollotto, RU
Unanimous selections in ALL CAPS
