Wake Forest Hosts 2004 NCAA Field Hockey Championship
11/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 18, 2004
Winston-Salem, N.C. - The 2004 NCAA Field Hockey Championship weekend will be held in Kentner Stadium on the campus of Wake Forest University, Nov. 19 and 21. The first semifinal game, between Duke and Michigan State will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by game number two at 7 p.m., between Maryland and the hometown, two-time defending national champion Demon Deacons. The championship match between the winners of the first two games will be played at 12:35 on Sunday and aired live on CSTV.
Michigan State, who knocked off fourth-seeded and host school Michigan, 3-2 last Sunday will face Duke in the first semifinal game of the tournament. Each of the teams assumes the seed of the bracket in which they played rounds one and two. Duke and Michigan State met once this year, a 4-1 decision to the Spartans.
"There is no other place I'd rather be right now," said Spartan head coach Michele Madison. "We've just finished our first practice on a beautiful turf in a beautiful facility, I'm driving a Mercedes for the weekend, I couldn't be happier. But seriously, this weekend is like an entirely new season. The fact that we have beaten our opponent once this year gives us confidence but it really doesn't mean anything in terms of what we must accomplish tomorrow afternoon."
Duke, who upended top-seeded North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 2-1, returns to the final weekend for the second straight year.
"We are happy and excited to be here," said Blue Devil head coach Beth Bozman. "It's been a long, hard season. I couldn't be more pleased with our performance last Sunday. It's hard enough to get to a final four weekend and to do it two consecutive years is something to be proud of."
Duke has faced each of the other semifinal teams at least once this year. The Blue Devils handed Wake Forest their first loss, 4-3 in overtime. Duke fell to Maryland in overtime, 5-4 and again in the ACC semifinals, 3-2. Wake Forest took down No.1-ranked Michigan State for the Spartans first loss of the season, 3-2 in overtime. The Spartans have not faced Maryland in 2004.
Wake Forest, which swept through the Northeast bracket last weekend with victories against Harvard, 7-1 and Northeastern, 4-2, is the second-seed in this weekend's events.
"We are very excited to be back at home," said Deacon associate head coach Neil Macmillan. "The conditions couldn't be better, we are very much looking forward to this weekend. The girls have really stepped it up over the last few weeks and I think we're all glad to be in this familiar place for the last weekend of our season."
The Deacs defeated No.1-ranked Maryland earlier this season, 3-2. Third-seeded Maryland beat Delaware, 5-2 and American, 2-0 at home last weekend to advance to the semifinals for the second consecutive year.
"We are honored to be back for this weekend," said Terrapin head coach Missy Meharg. "Everything about this place is great, the administration, the staff, the facility and the field. We feel confident and prepared for a great weekend."
Michigan State has been to the semifinals only once in the program's history. The Spartans fell to the eventual national champion Demon Deacon squad, 3-0 in 2002. This is Maryland's ninth trip overall, and the fifth in the last six years. Duke headed to the final weekend in 2003 for the first time in school history. Wake Forest first appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and traveled to the semifinals in 2000. The Deacons have been every year since then, a streak of five consecutive years.
The Blue Devils and the Spartans are set to battle at 4:30 p.m. followed by the ACC matchup of Wake Forest and Maryland at 7:00 p.m. Both semifinal games will take place on Friday, Nov. 19 in Kentner Stadium on the campus of Wake Forest University. Gametracker will be available at www.WakeForestSports.com for all games this weekend.