Wake Forest Downs Iowa 3-2 in NCAA First Round

Friday, November 9

Durham, NC

2:30 PM

Wake Forest University

(12-9)

Iowa

(14-7)

Wake Forest

IOWA

11/9/2018 5:27:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

Jule Grashoff scores twice in the victory

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 12 Wake Forest posted a 3-2 win over No. 7 Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship at Duke's Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium on Friday afternoon. The win propels the Demon Deacons into the quarterfinals where they will face the host Duke on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils defeated Miami (Ohio) in the first round on Friday afternoon.

Wake Forest (12-9) used a pair of goals from Jule Grashoff to advance to the second round for the first time since 2013. Iowa finishes its season at 14-7 overall.

"We knew we had to move it against Iowa, they're a really disciplined team," said head coach Jen Averill. "Our game plan was to go outside, go big.  We had some problems with our structure in the second half. When they pressed us, that was some heat. But it gives us great film to learn from and make adjustments. We have the personnel but we just need the awareness to make those adjustments on the fly. (Our team is) on a mission and I love the fact they are living by our motto which is giving ourselves a chance to play on Sunday. It's an awesome feeling."

Iowa took a 1-0 lead on an Ellie Holley goal at 17:36 of the first half on a penalty corner with an assist from Sophie Sunderland. It was Holley's seventh goal of the season. Just moments later, Grashoff scored off a penalty corner to tie the game at 1-1. It was Grashoff's 23^rd goal of the season. Megan Anderson and Veerle Bos assisted on the goal with 15:46 to play in the half.

The Demon Deacons took a 2-1 lead with 4:21 to play in the first half when Grace Sambrook score off an assist from Grashoff. It was just Sambrook's third goal of the season.

"(Grace) wants to play midfield and with her experience, we're getting better minutes up top," said Averill.  "She's got great hands and can show she can finish. It's a pleasant surprise to us and I'm really proud of her, she's giving us huge minutes. Defensively, she really owns it and appreciates the value of playing good defense as a striker which leads to transition for her to get it back."

Iowa applied heavy pressure on the Wake Forest defense in the second half, but Grashoff was able to extend the lead to 3-1 with 6:05 to play with her 24^th goal of the year that put the Deacons on top 3-1.

Iowa pulled to within one at 3-2 with 3:17 remaining as Isabella Solaroli knocked it home on the right side. Wake Forest's defense stood stout and the Hawkeyes missed an excellent scoring opportunity with a shot from just in front of the cage with 25 seconds remaining that went wide.

Wake Forest goalkeeper Isla Bint had three saves and Iowa took 13 shots, five of them on goal. The Deacons got off nine shots with six on goal.

Sunday's NCAA quarterfinal will be a re-match of the ACC Tournament semifinals where the Deacons upset the Blue Devils 4-3.

"It's a healthy, competitive rivalry between us," said Averill of Duke.  "I'm sure they felt they could have performed better in the ACC Tournament against us. We're extremely grateful to have the opportunity to play against them. With that gratitude, we also have an appetite. There's a lot of things at stake. We're going to challenge our kids to keep that appetite and continue to attack as well as playing a little better defense."