IOWA CITY — Fourth-ranked Iowa Hawkeye field hockey overwhelmed Lehigh from start to finish Friday, rolling to a 9-0 shutout in its home opener while head coach Lisa Cellucci celebrated the 150th victory of her career.
Iowa completely smothered Lehigh’s attack, outshooting the Mountain Hawks 45-0 while getting goals from six different Hawkeyes.
Fréderique van Cleef led the assault with a hat trick, scoring three goals and adding two assists in a dominant performance.
Dionne van Aalsum struck first just 2:49 into the game, scoring her third goal of the season off an assist from van Cleef.
The Hawkeyes added another in the second quarter when Meg Tebben scored at the 22:43 mark off a feed from Niamh de Jong.
Then van Cleef took over.
She scored at 26:05 off an assist from Myra van de Kop and struck again less than two minutes later, giving Iowa a commanding 4-0 lead heading into halftime.
The pounding continued after the break.
Emily Edwards scored her first goal of the season at 41:14, with van Cleef picking up the assist.
Iowa then erupted for four goals in the fourth quarter.
Van Aalsum scored her second goal of the game at 46:29, pushing her season total to four. Reine van Hoof followed at 48:32 before van Cleef completed her hat trick less than a minute later with an unassisted goal at 49:21.
Gia Whalen closed out the scoring at 52:50 with her first goal of the season.
The nine-goal barrage was Iowa’s biggest offensive output since the Hawkeyes scored nine times against Saint Louis in 2021.
The Hawkeyes’ 45 shots were also the most by an Iowa team during Cellucci’s tenure, breaking the previous mark of 44 against Pacific in 2014.
Van Aalsum added another milestone, moving into sole possession of sixth place on Iowa’s career scoring list with 69 goals.
Cellucci said Iowa’s preparation during a difficult week helped set up the dominant performance. Extreme heat limited the Hawkeyes’ practice time, forcing the team to rely more heavily on video work and mental preparation.
The result was one of Iowa’s most lopsided performances in recent memory.
The victory also pushed Cellucci to 150 career wins, making her the fourth head coach in Iowa field hockey history to reach the mark.
Iowa returns to action Sunday when the Hawkeyes host Ball State at 11:30 a.m. in Iowa City.