Wake Forest University
Duke
Field Hockey Advances to ACC Championship Final
11/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 8, 2002
Durham, N.C. - The top-seeded Wake Forest field hockey team escaped a scare from an impressive fourth-seeded Duke team, defeating the Blue Devils 2-1 on Friday night at Duke's Williams Field. With the win, the Demon Deacons (15-2) advance to Sunday's ACC Championship game where they will take on the Maryland Terrapins (16-3) in a rematch of last year's Championship contest.
The game was exciting from the outset, as the teams battled throughout the first half. Wake Forest goalkeeper Katie Ridd and Duke's Christy Morgan both made big saves early in the first half to keep the game tied. The defensive battle continued and the teams went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.
The Blue Devils charged out of the gate in second half. Just one minute into the half, Duke sophomore Chrissie Murphy found the ball off a deflection and hammered it into the back of the goal to give the Blue Devils the 1-0 lead. Duke clung to the one-goal lead for the next 18 minutes, until Wake Forest freshman Ariel Meyers took a cross from All-ACC senior Maria Whitehead and fired it past Morgan to knot the score at 1-1. Less than seven minutes later, All-ACC senior Heather Aughinbaugh fed a penalty corner to sophomore and fellow All-ACC honoree Kelly Dostal who drilled the ball into the back of the net from 15 yards out to give the Deacs the 2-1 lead. The Wake defense held off a late Duke penalty corner and the Demon Deacons held on for the victory.
"This is a hard-hitting tournament," said Wake Forest head coach and ACC Coach of the Year Jennifer Averill. "You don't see as much finesse at this event and when there are two great teams like this out there fighting like that, the game is going to be a back-and-forth battle."
In Sunday's championship game (Noon, Fox Sports Net South), the Deacs will face Maryland, who defeated North Carolina, 3-2 in overtime, in the first game of the day. The Deacons and Terps faced off in last year's ACC Championship, where Maryland won 3-2. The teams squared off again in the NCAA Semifinals, with the Terps winning an epic 3-2 double overtime game. This regular season, the Deacs came out on top, winning a 2-1 overtime battle at Kentner Stadium.
