50 Iowa moments since Title IX: Field hockey’s 2021 season included No. 1 ranking, field-storming

Editor’s note: This is 29th in a series counting down the Top 50 moments in Iowa Hawkeyes women’s athletics history in the 50 days leading up to the 50th anniversary of Title IX in June.

A loud scream came from a third-floor office in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Seemingly “everybody in Carver-Hawkeye” came running down the stairs. Field hockey coach Lisa Cellucci’s phone “was blowing up.”

The reason? For the first time in program history, Iowa field hockey was ranked No. 1 in the country in 2021.

One of the first calls to Cellucci came from former women’s athletics director and Title IX pioneer Christine Grant.

“She was so proud that we were No. 1,” Cellucci told The Gazette. “I'm actually so glad I was in a meeting because she left me this great voicemail that I will save forever.”

That No. 1 ranking set up quite the matchup when No. 2 Michigan visited Grant Field a couple weeks later. No. 1 vs. No. 2 ended with the Hawkeyes pulling away, 2-1, in a shootout.

Fans, including many athletes from other Iowa teams, stormed the field.

“I’ve never seen that in a field hockey match,” Cellucci said at the time on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast. “Unbelievable. One of the greatest memories that we’ll have on Grant Field for sure going forward.”

One of those fans was Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder.

A couple hours later, Cellucci ran into Bluder at a nearby restaurant, where Bluder “got the entire restaurant on their feet cheering ‘No. 1! No. 1!’”

Now, it’s Cellucci’s turn to do the court-storming at one of Bluder’s games.

“I am ready to storm the court,” Cellucci said on the podcast. “I don’t know if we’ll storm the wrestling mats because that might be a little scary.”

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