Wake Forest University
No. 4 Maryland (ACC Semifinal)
Field Hockey Downs Maryland In The ACC Semifinals
11/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 7, 2003
Charlottesville, Virginia - The nations top four field hockey teams traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday for the Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey semi-finals. In the afternoon game, Duke University defeated The University of North Carolina, 4-3. In the 7:00 p.m. game, top seeded Wake Forest defeated fourth seeded Maryland, 4-1. The Deacs advance to the ACC finals, where they will take on Duke, Sunday at noon.
The Deacons opened up the scoring with an unassisted goal by Ariel Meyers, her seventh of the season. The goal came nearly 15 minutes into the first half, off of a penalty corner, taken by Claire Laubach. Kristi Harshman tapped one in on an assist from Kelly Dostal with only five minutes left in the half, as the Deacs jumped ahead, 2-0.
Maryland's Jackie Ciconte scored just six seconds later, to give the Terps their first goal of the day, and a one-point deficit heading into half time.
Sophomore Maeke Boreel single handedly drove through the defense to score her sixth goal of the season, to put the Deacs up, 3-1 with 13 minutes left in the second half.
With five minutes left in the game, Maryland attempted an unusual game strategy, known as kicking-back, by removing goalkeeper Tori Cano and playing with Brooke Johnson as a goalie, who wore no pads. This allowed them to play with an additional member on the field, as padding did not restrict Johnson. Despite Maryland's efforts, Katie Ridd made three incredible saves down the stretch to keep the Deacs up by two goals.
Kelly Dostal went one-on-one with Johnson, to score the Deacs final goal of the night with just 40 seconds left in the game.
"The speed of execution by both teams was unbelievable, Maryland made us play some of our best hockey," said head coach Jennifer Averill. "I cannot say enough about the importance of our teams enthusiasm in this game. Only 12 girls may have played, but all 18 gave the positive energy we needed to win this game. I am so proud of our girls."
Wake Forest faces Duke on Sunday at noon. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net South, Sunshine Network and Comcast SportsNet.
