PA Athletes: Iowa v Ohio State FH
Iowa City, IA - September 27, 2026: The fifth-ranked Iowa field hockey team hosted Ohio State this weekend for a Big Ten Conference series at Christine Grant Field. The game Friday evening was Iowa’s Black Out game while Sunday’s game was International Field Hockey Day.
The series between the Hawkeyes and the Buckeyes saw a combined sixteen players and two coaches from Pennsylvania on the field. Keystone Sports Extra is committed to covering our Pennsylvania athletes on their journey in college.
The eighteen ladies mentioned in this article represent a small contingent of field hockey players from the Keystone State. In the Big Ten alone this year, there are a total of fifty-one players from Pennsylvania on the nine different rosters. And, since it was International Day on Sunday, it should be noted that both teams had several players from Australia, Netherlands, England, and Belgium.
Iowa improved to 9-1 on the season after defeating Ohio State 4-1 on Friday and 3-2 on Sunday. The Hawkeyes have five Keystone State players on their roster.
Fourth year forward/midfielder Rachel Herbine is from Emmaus High School. Herbine has started in all ten games so far this season for the Hawkeyes. She has one goal, five assists, and seven total points after this weekend. Her goal on August 30 against North Carolina was the game winner in a 3-2 victory for the Hawkeyes. In sixty-seven career games played, she has three goals, fifteen assists, and twenty-one points. She has started forty-four games in her career and was named to the Big Ten All-Academic Team in 2024 and 2025.
Fourth year midfielder Gia Whalen is from Villa Maria Academy. Whalen has started in all ten games so far this season for the Hawkeyes. She has one goal and two points. In sixty-seven career games played, she has five goals, three assists, and thirteen points. She has started sixty-six games in her career and was named to the Big Ten All-Academic Team in 2024 and 2025, as well as being named to the All-Big Ten Second Team in 2024.
Second year defender Peyton Shellaway is from Boyertown High School. Shellaway has played in all ten games this season for the Hawkeyes. As a freshman, she played in fifteen games. Shellaway has a career two assists and two points.
Fourth year defender Lauren DeRose is from The Agnes Irwin School in Collegeville, PA. DeRose has played in all ten games so far this season for the Hawkeyes. She has started twenty-eight career games while playing in forty-eight. In 2024, DeRose was named as a NFHCA Division I Scholar of Distinction.
Second year midfielder Jordan Byers is from West Perry High School. Byers has played in all ten games so far this season for the Hawkeyes. She has 3 assists and 3 points so far in 2026. In 2025, Byers started seventeen of the twenty games she played in while scoring one goal and having four assists. She was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team in 2025.
Ohio State is now 4-5 on the season. The Buckeyes have eleven Keystone State players on their roster.
Junior goalkeeper Maddie Stevens is from Twin Valley High School. Stevens, a transfer from Liberty in 2025, played in all eighteen games for the Buckeyes in 2025. She had sixty-three saves on the season as a sophomore with a career high eight saves against Northwestern that year. She was Academic All-Big Ten in 2025. In 2026, Stevens so far has started six of the nine games in goal. She has five saves on thirteen shots.
Sophomore midfielder and defender Autum Kernechel is from Emmaus High School. Kernechel started all eighteen games as a freshman. She had two assists, was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, and was an OSU Scholar Athlete. She has started all nine games thus far in 2026. She has taken five shots on goal and she has two assists/points.
Sophomore forward Carmela Maro is from Methacton High School. As a freshman, Maro played in seventeen games and had one goal. She was an OSU Scholar Athlete in 2025. She has played in all nine games so far this season, notching one goal and one assist.
Junior defender Victoria Kutz is from Lower Dauphin High School. Kutz played in all thirty-seven games of her freshman and sophomore years. She was awarded the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award in 2025 and attained Academic All-Big Ten honors the same year. So far in 2026, she has two assists, four points, and a key goal against Delaware on September 11 which led to a 4-3 Buckeye victory.
Senior forward Reagan Eickhoff is from Boiling Springs High School. She attained Academic All-Big Ten in 2024 and 2025 and has played in twenty-three career games for the Buckeyes. She has one goal in her career.
Junior forward Sienna Golden is from Archbishop Carroll High School. Golden has played in forty-one career games for the Buckeyes, scoring ten goals and having twenty-one points. She had the winning goal against Michigan in 2025. She attained Academic All-Big Ten in 2025. She currently leads the Buckeyes on the season with five goals and ten points.
Junior back Madeline Bogle is from Gwynedd Mercy Academy. Bogle did not play as a freshman but started seven of the eighteen games as a sophomore. She has played in all nine games so far this season. She made the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 2025.
Freshman midfielders Hannah Gober, Northwestern Lehigh High School, Karys Craver, Warwick High School, Emerson Swartz, Wyoming Seminary, and Lea DeWan, Methacton High School, have seen limited playing time as first year players. DeWan has played in all games and she has two goals after scoring one on Sunday.
Iowa Head Coach Lisa Cellucci is a graduate of Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor, PA. She is in her 27th year as part of the Hawkeye coaching staff. She is in her 13th year as the head coach. Coach Cellucci was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2019, 2020, and 2021. While at Iowa, the field hockey team has amassed a 318-192 record under Cellucci’s coaching. In 2025, she was inducted into the Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame.
The State of Iowa does not have high school field hockey. Coach Cellucci was asked after Friday’s game to talk about what it means for her program to recruit from Pennsylvania. She said: “It’s huge, I’m from Pennsylvania, the area outside Philadelphia is where I grew up, and we’ve had a lot of Pennsylvania and New Jersey players out here at Iowa. We have a great connection with the high school and club coaches in PA. I love having the PA girls here and this is the place to be if you value women’s sports. We have created a little Eagles’ football group here on the team in which we cheer for the Birds, as well as the Phillies. We also talk about our favorite, WaWa, which we don’t have out here in Iowa. I often go back to PA and visit family. It’s a special little bond we share among the PA players and we will always heavily recruit from PA. We also have Coach Leah Zellner, who is from Emmaus High School, and she has been a great recent addition to our program in keeping up with the top PA field hockey talent.”
Coach Cellucci is also part of an awesome organization called the Water Bearer Collective. She said: “Six really good friends started the group over a year ago and it’s about empowering women off all ages in the community. I am one of the six friends and we all come from different backgrounds and jobs. We meet to offer something different to the community. The group offers wellness opportunities, strength training, and various gatherings in support of women. It’s been going very well and has been a positive thing to do in my spare time.”
In Friday’s matchup, the Hawks and Bucks played to a stalemate in the first half. It was a defensive battle without too many shots taken. Right after the break, the Hawkeyes opened the third period with a goal. They then lit up the scoreboard in the fourth period. Scoring for the Hawkeyes were Lexie Haig, Reine van Hoof, and Frederique van Cleef (2). Dionne van Aalsum and Tea Fortpied were credited with assists on the Haig and Van Cleef goals. Scoring for the Buckeyes was Katie Fichtner with Carmelo Maro recording the assist.
Hawkeye goalkeeper Julia Calessens played all sixty minutes and had four saves. The Buckeyes utilized two goalkeepers. Maddie Stevens had two saves on two shot attempts in the scoreless first half. Avery Alleva entered the net for the second half and had three saves on seven shots on goal.
In Sunday’s win for the Hawkeyes, van Aalsum (11) opened the scoring in the first period. Ohio State then got two goals in the second period to take the lead, one from Philippa Jowett (3) and one from Lea DeWan (2). Iowa then bounced back with a goal to start the third period with van Hoof (4) scoring to tie the game 2-2. It was then van Cleef’s goal for the Hawkeyes with about ten minutes to go in the game that gave her team the lead for good. Iowa’s Lieve van Kessel had an assist.
Hawkeye goalkeeper Calessens played all sixty minutes on Sunday as well. She had nine saves. The Buckeyes once again split time at goalkeeper with Stevens handling the first half and Alleva handling the second. Stevens had one save while Alleva had five. Iowa had thirteen shots total and five penalty corners while Ohio State had nineteen shots and six penalty corners. Ohio State did pull their goalie with about five minutes left in the game.
Iowa’s Herbine was one of three Emmaus High School athletes on the field this past weekend. Kernechel of Ohio State was the second, while Iowa Assistant Coach Zellner was the third.
Herbine was asked about her time at Iowa. She said: “I love it out here and the people are amazing. The first time I visited this awesome campus everyone was so nice. The team culture has a great vibe and that says a lot about how the coaches here do an amazing job. We have top notch facilities. It’s all these things that brought me out here to Iowa.”
As far as how the season is going for Iowa and their outlook moving forward, Herbine said: “We had a nice win today and I am really excited about Big Ten play. There are always things we need to work on but it’s nice beating Ohio State. I know Autum Kernechel on Ohio State is from Emmaus, she and her team played a great game today. Autum and I played a lot of club field hockey together and she is a good friend and a great field hockey player.”
Keystone Sports Extra would like to thank the Iowa Athletic Department, specifically Sam Basler of Strategic Communications. Sam and his staff, as well as the coaches and players, were very professional and accommodating with our interview and photo requests. Keystone Sports Extra echoes what Herbine said about the people at Iowa. It’s refreshing to work with an athletic staff that actually cares about each student-athlete as a person and not just as an athlete.
Keystone Sports Extra would like to also point out that while at Iowa’s field this weekend, ground was broken on the north end for a brand new state-of-the-art field hockey building that will house a locker room, offices for the coaches, and meeting rooms. It’s certain this building will be a great addition to an already fantastic field hockey program.
