Demon Deacon Field Hockey Travels To Virginia Commonwealth
10/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 14, 2004
Winston-Salem, N.C. - The No.1-ranked Wake Forest field hockey team travels to Richmond, Va. for a 6 p.m. date with the Virginia Commonwealth Rams on Saturday. The Deacons enter Saturday's game 12-2, coming off of an exciting 4-3 overtime victory against North Carolina last weekend. The Rams are 8-5 after falling 5-1 to Hofstra last Sunday.
"We are excited to play VCU," said Deacon head coach Jennifer Averill. "The Rams have much more depth this year and they are a much more improved team. They will certainly be a challenging opponent and we are looking forward to this road game."
Wake Forest leads the all-time series with the Rams, 8-5-1. The first meeting between the teams came on Oct.11, 1980. The 1-1 result was the only tie of the series. Virginia Commonwealth took the next five games, shutting out the Deacons four times.
Wake Forest began the current eight game winning streak with a 2-0 victory on Sept. 11, 1994. Since then, Wake Forest has allowed only two Rams' goals, one in the 1997, 4-1 Deacon victory and another in the 5-1 win in 1998.
The two-time defending National Champions have shutout the Rams each of the last three seasons, including an 8-0 routing in the most recent meeting, Sept. 20, 2003. That game marked the sixth consecutive shutout for the Deacons in Kentner Stadium, and extended the Deacon winning streak to 25. Lauren Crandall tallied her first career goal, en route to her first hat trick as a Deacon. Ariel Meyers, Claire Laubach and Kelly Dostal added a goal a piece and former Deacon (now volunteer assistant coach) Kelly Doton notched two goals to extend the Deacon winning streak against the Rams to eight games.
The Deacons return home next Wednesday for the final regular season game in Kentner Stadium. Wake Forest hosts Radford at 7 p.m. before traveling to Charlottesville for the last game before tournament play. The Deacons game with the Virginia Cavaliers will be their ninth outing against a top-20 opponent this season.