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131 U niversity of Iowa junior Katie Birch wants to join her head coach in Hawkeye field hockey lore. But she knows work needs to be done first. Birch, a native of York, England, was named third-team All-America aer scoring 14 goals with eight assists in 2017. With two seasons remaining, she has an opportunity to join Iowa head coach Lisa Cellucci (1995-97), Heather Bryant (1991-93), Natalie Cafone (2014-16), Amy Fowler (1990-92), Kristy Gleason (1989- 93), and Erica Richards (1987-89) as three-time All-Americans in program history. (Gleason was a four-timer). "I have talked to Lisa and said I want to go for it," Birch said. "I know she has done it before, so I said, 'I want to join you, I want to be up there with you.' I want to represent the whole program, it is something to go for." Birch and Cafone were teammates in 2016 and the two combined for a goal (Cafone) and assist (Birch) in their first game together — a 2-1 win over Wake Forest. Birch scored her first collegiate goal in her third game as a Hawkeye — a 4-1 win over Fairfield, which was also her first competition on Grant Field. "It's a mentality," Birch said of goal-scoring. "I want to put it in the back of the net to get victories for our team. I want to score goals and beat whoever we are playing." As a freshman in 2016, Birch was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and second-team All-Big Ten. She accounted for 12 goals and four assists and the Hawkeyes finished 12-7 overall, 4-4 in the Big Ten. In the regular-season finale, Birch scored a goal to tie Ohio State in a game Iowa won, 3-2. Last season, Birch was named team MVP, first- team All-Big Ten, first-team All-West Regional, and third-team All-America. Her statistical line of 14 goals and eight assists was an improvement over her freshman season, but the team dipped to 7-11, 3-5. "We don't want a repeat of last year, ever," Birch said. "It affected the team so much that all 14 starters came back for summer school so we could all train, be together, and build team morale." In early August, Birch received preseason All-Big Ten recognition, along with teammates Maddy Murphy and Sophie Sunderland. e 2018 edition of Hawkeyes is a promising group, loaded with potential. e nation received a glimpse of Iowa's potential aer the 20th ranked Hawkeyes (now ranked 10th) opened the season with a 2-1 upset victory over No. 14 Wake Forest and a 2-1 overtime loss at No. 2 North Carolina. Birch began the scoring with a goal in the 15th minute against Wake Forest. Against North Carolina, Iowa led for more than 30 minutes. "It shows grit and the team showed complete resilience," Birch said of the first two results at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. e Hawkeyes (10-2) remain on a roll. ey are 4-0 at home this season and are currently on a three- match winning streak. Two of those victories came against teams ranked in the top 25. Birch leads Iowa with eight assists and three game-winning goals. She is second with seven goals and 22 points. It is interesting how Birch found her way to Iowa City. Assistant coach Michael Boal, a native of England, was watching a major tournament in England and saw Birch perform. e relationship began and another question that needed answered was, one Birch or two? Katie's twin sister, Rebecca, is a captain for Old Dominion. "We were kind of recruiting both, but they wanted to go their separate ways," Cellucci said.