No. 4 Hawkeyes Take Down Lehigh

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The fourth-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team delivered a dominant performance in its home opener Friday morning, shutting out Lehigh, 9-0, behind a hat trick from Fréderique van Cleef. The victory also marked a milestone for Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci, who became the fourth head coach in program history to reach 150 career wins.

"From last weekend, the resilience we showed, we had to do it again this whole week," said Cellucci. "We barely practiced because of the heat, so we had to do a lot of mental rehearsal and a lot of video prep. They came out and did a great job. I was really impressed with how we moved the ball and then how we finished. They played a really good team game today."

Iowa opened the scoring early in the first quarter when Dionne van Aalsum found the back of the net at the 2:49 mark for her third goal of the season. Fréderique van Cleef recorded the assist.

The Hawkeyes extended their lead midway through the second quarter when Meg Tebben scored her second goal of the season at 22:43 off an assist from Niamh de Jong.

Iowa pushed its advantage to 3-0 at 26:05 when van Cleef converted a feed from Myra van de Kop for her third goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, van Cleef struck again, scoring unassisted at 27:46 for her fourth goal of the year to give Iowa a 4-0 lead heading into halftime.

The Hawkeyes carried the momentum into the third quarter when Emily Edwards scored her first goal of the season at the 41:14 mark off an assist from van Cleef to make it 5-0.

Iowa dominated the fourth quarter, beginning at 46:29 when van Aalsum recorded her second goal of the match and fourth of the season. Reine van Hoof followed at 48:32 with her second goal of the year off an assist from van de Kop.

Less than a minute later, van Cleef completed her hat trick with an unassisted goal at 49:21, her fifth of the season, stretching the Hawkeye lead to 8-0.

"It was a good game," said van Cleef. "I know what I can do, and I know what my team can do. I know where Dionne positions herself, so I know where I can get her the ball. We have good chemistry between shooting on goal and making the extra pass for an assist, so I think we do a good job as forwards."

Gia Whalen capped the scoring at the 52:50 mark, netting her first goal of the season to seal the 9-0 victory.

OF NOTE
- The victory was the 150th career win for head coach Lisa Cellucci, making her the fourth head coach in program history to reach the milestone.
- Iowa outshot Lehigh, 45-0.
- The Hawkeyes' 45 shots were the most under Cellucci, surpassing the previous mark of 44 against Pacific in 2014.
- Dionne van Aalsum moved into sole possession of sixth place in program history with 69 career goals.
- Six different Hawkeyes scored in the victory.
- Iowa's nine goals were its most in a game since scoring nine against Saint Louis in 2021.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to action Sunday against Ball State at 11:30 a.m. (CT) in Iowa City. The game will be streamed on B1G+.