Iowa’s Twin 17-Goal Threats Walk Into Maryland, Where the Terps Have Lost Once All Season
There is no soft landing to the Big Ten regular season. Iowa finish it on the road, at Maryland, against a team that has lost once in sixteen games. And Iowa wouldn’t want it any other way, because this is the kind of game that tells you where you really are before the tournament starts.
Maryland are 15-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten, ranked No. 2, and the No. 2 tournament seed is already locked up. They bounced back from their only defeat, a 4-2 loss at Northwestern, by winning 1-0 at No. 13 Indiana on Sunday, Babs van Hest scoring the only goal in the 40th minute. Van Hest and Francisca Eschoyez share the team lead with nine goals each, van Hest also has ten assists and four game-winners, and goalkeeper Alyssa Klebasko has conceded twelve goals all season with 48 saves and five shutouts. Maryland have scored 52 goals from fourteen different players. That is depth, not one star carrying a team.
Iowa’s answer is two stars carrying a very good team. Frédérique van Cleef and Dionne van Aalsum have seventeen goals each. Van Cleef leads the team in points with 42, and van Aalsum is closing on a piece of Iowa history: 82 career goals, six behind the number two mark in programme history. Both were named to the Big Ten Players to Watch list, both were All-Big Ten first team last season, and both were on the NFHCA watch list this year. Iowa are 12-3 overall and 4-3 in the league, ranked No. 9, and they have won five games this season after trailing. They beat No. 19 Penn State 1-0 on Sunday, van Aalsum scoring her seventeenth of the season off an Amber Millard-Smith penalty corner, and they lost 4-3 in overtime to Rutgers. They don’t go away in games. Maryland should expect a fight.
History says Maryland, and not by a little. Iowa are 7-23-1 against the Terps since the teams first met in 1984, and Maryland won the only meeting in 2025. But history also says Iowa belong in this company. They have appeared in 112 consecutive NFHCA polls dating back to 2016, they are the Big Ten’s winningest field hockey programme with 214 conference wins, and they ended last season in the NCAA Sweet 16. For our money, Maryland at home are favourites, and rightly so. Iowa’s twin threat gives them a puncher’s chance, and a win here would be the statement result of their season.
The game is at 1.00pm ET (10.00pm PKT) on Friday at Maryland’s Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex, streamed on B1G+. The Big Ten Tournament runs from 5 to 8 November, and the NCAA selection show follows on 8 November. Friday decides the middle seeds. Iowa want to go into November with momentum, not questions.
Related:
- https://sportscursor.com/big-ten-field-hockey-friday-finale-northwestern-maryland-penn-state-30-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/maryland-1-0-indiana-van-hest-klebasko-shutout-27-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/nfhca-poll-northwestern-no-1-maryland-no-2-27-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/latest-news/
