Field Hockey Travels To Final Four To Face Michigan
11/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 19, 2003
Winston-Salem, NC - For the fourth year in a row, the Wake Forest field hockey team travels to the NCAA Final Four. Only four other schools have accomplished such an impressive streak (Old Dominion, North Carolina, Iowa, and Connecticut). This year the #1 Deacs, 20-1, face sixth-ranked Michigan, 17-6, in Amherst, Massachusetts on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
The Deacs and the Wolverines have met seven times in the past; the Winston-Salem squad leads the series, 5-2. Wake has not lost to Michigan since November 14, 1999, when the Deacs fell, 3-2, in overtime in NCAA second round action in Kentner Stadium.
The teams frequently meet in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at the beginning of each season. In this year's challenge, the Deacs won the game, 4-2. Michigan is one of only two schools this season to score more than one goal on senior goal keeper Katie Ridd. Duke also scored two goals, but still fell to the Deacs, 3-2, in the ACC Championship game.
Wake Forest and Michigan have twice met in NCAA action. Both games were in the second round, both in Winston-Salem, both went into overtime and both had a final score of 3-2. Though Michigan captured the first win, the Deacs won in 2000 to advance to the Final Four for the first time in the programs history.
Like Wake Forest, Michigan has experience more recent success in their field hockey program. The Wolverines first made the final four in 1999, then lost to Maryland in the Championship game. In 2001, the Wolverines defeated the Terps for the National Title.
In 2000, the Deacons fell to ODU in the semifinals, as the Monarchs went on to win the school's ninth national championship. In 2001, Maryland defeated the Deacs in overtime, only to lose to Michigan in the championship game. Last season, Wake Forest dropped Michigan State and Penn State in Championship play to win the programs first ever NCAA Championship.
Top-seeded Wake Forest faces Michigan at 5:00 p.m. Friday, followed by the Duke-Maryland game at 7:30 p.m. The winners of each advance to the championship match on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. All action will take place on the Richard F. Garber Field, at the University of Massachusetts.