Since Iowa isn’t known for being a field hockey state—the sport isn’t played at the high school level here—the University of Iowa team has go far afield to find players. As a result, a number of the players are from overseas—a couple of continental Europeans but mostly Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis. One of the team’s standout internationals, is a sophomore from Tasmania by the name of Maddy Murphy—I was lucky enough to shoot her first hat-trick as she single-handedly took down no. 6 Penn State on a fall evening.
Field Hockey
Field Hockey—Down to the wire
I’m sure losing home finale 2–1 isn’t the way that the Iowa Women’s Field Hockey wanted to close out the season. But honestly, losing to the #2 team in the country—while disappointing—can hardly be called embarrassing. And, quite frankly, this team is nowhere near done—currently ranked #8 as I write this, they still have the Big 10 tournament to go and—assuming they close out the season strong—should probably make the NCAA tournament as well. And, even better, if the seedings for the Big Ten work out, there should be at least one more home game. Which is good, because I really want to reshoot the first photo in this series . . .
Field Hockey, the return.
During my time shooting for the Daily Iowan, if you asked me what my favorite sport to shoot is, I'd say women's field hockey. Sure, shooting football and basketball are great—they're the prestige sports and there really is nothing like being on the sidelines or courtside and having the privilege of shooting them. While the sports pages might not teem with field hockey coverage though (er, well, except for the DI) it really has become a favorite of mine to shoot. Why, you ask?
Well, for starters, the games are short—two 35 minute halves and a 10 minute halftime. Get in, get out. But more than that, it's outside so the light is generally good, it's fairly high action so you can get some fairly dramatic shots and the field isn't that large so you're closer to the action than in something like soccer.
And Iowa's team, while maybe not great, is pretty good and certainly entertaining. I shot my first field hockey game of the season today and Iowa hung seven on the opposing team. More of that ladies.
