Deacon Sports Xtra: The Start of a Three-Peat: Celebrating The 20th Anniversary of the 2002 Wake Forest Field Hockey National Championship Team
11/24/2022 8:00:00 AM | Field Hockey, Les Johns
Nov. 24, 2022 marks the 20th Anniversary of Wake Forest’s first of three-straight field hockey National Championships.
Act like a champion.
After back-to-back Final Four appearances, Wake Forest Field Hockey head coach Jen Averill's appeal to her 2002 team wasn't to just talk the talk, but to back it up by carrying themselves as if they deserved to be in that championship environment.
That's exactly what they did. The Deacs lost two of their first three to begin the campaign, learned from the experience and then didn't take a defeat the rest of the season — winning the last 19 games in a row while not allowing a single goal in NCAA Tournament play.
They captured the 2002 NCAA Tournament Championship, becoming the first women's national champions in Wake Forest history while claiming the first team national title in 16 years.
HEARTBREAK
In many ways, the 2002 season started on Nov. 16, 2001 as the Demon Deacons fell 3-2 in double overtime in the national semifinals to Maryland in Kent, Ohio. Wake Forest came back to Winston-Salem just one win away from competing for a national championship, finishing with a 16-5 record. Three of those five losses came to Maryland, one on the road in mid-September (4-1), one in the ACC Tournament in Chapel Hill (3-2), then in the NCAA Tournament semifinal.
"When you're right there in the game and in overtime and get bumped out, that's fuel greater than anything else you can feel," Kelly Dostal said. "Going to the Final Four is a great accomplishment, but then we wanted to move beyond just being there to winning a national championship.
"That semifinal loss, as painful as it was, changed how we approached that next spring season, the offseason and the summer going into the 2002 season when we ultimately became national champions."
The planning and training for the 2002 season began almost immediately.
"When do we play them again?" Dostal said.
Kelly Doton scored on a corner to give the Deacs a 2-1 lead over the Terrapins in that loss as a sophomore.
"There was a lot of disappointment coming out of that double overtime loss," she said. "We felt like we had a lot of opportunities to win, but just came up short.
"But we knew we had a really good core coming back, and we wanted to get to work in the spring, so by the time the 2002 season started, we'd be ready to roll."
Averill, who took over the Wake Forest program as head coach in 1992, understood winning at that level was a process and that the experience gained in 2000 and 2001 could potentially pay huge dividends in 2002.
"You have to learn how to win," Averill said. "It's rare that teams just show up in the NCAA and win everything in their first attempt. Sometimes that scarring has an ability to affect your mental resilience. I don't think it was just the year before, but it was also the year before the year before. We go there and fall flat to Michigan (in 2000) and then the next year against Maryland. Those things build resilience for you."
She also had Maria Whitehead, the heart and soul of the team, returning for her senior season in 2002.
"You had very confident and competent individuals who had a mission," Averill said. "Maria Whitehead said when was accepted to Wake Forest that she wanted to win a national championship, and she told me she liked the way I was talking because she could see that happening here.
"It was the first kid I recruited who verbalized what she wanted. Individuals like that are significant. They are the catalyst for your staff. The more they won, the bigger their appetite became."
OFFSEASON, WELCOMING FRESHMEN
While the returning upperclassmen attacked the spring schedule and summer conditioning, a small group of talented freshmen joined the team just a few weeks before the season needing to both assimilate to Wake Forest academically but also learn their roles on this national contender of a field hockey program.
Kelly Wood, a midfielder from Lititi, Penn. actually watched the national semifinal game between the Deacs and Maryland having not yet committed to Wake Forest while having both those schools on her final list.
"I wanted to call Jen and commit before that game," she recalls. "Michigan was another option, and I wanted to let her know I was committed no matter what.
"I loved the girls. That's what sold me the most. They were amazing and I just wanted to be a part of it."
She arrived on campus in August and ended up starting every game of her career.
"I was nervous and intimidated," Wood said about her first few weeks on campus. "I didn't know what was going on, but they embraced me immediately. Our class was pretty small that year. We only had about four that year. But there was the culture and the hunger after the season before. The seniors and the leadership just set us up for success. Heather (Aughinhaugh), Lynne (Shenk) and Maria were just the best as leaders.
"I'm looking at some of the best players in the country. It was humbling and nerve-wracking at the start. As a freshman, it's always a process to find your niche and your groove with the team. We just all had a weird connection that I can't describe. It was just incredible chemistry. It was unique and special."
Before their first game in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Averill looked over at Wood.
"Are you ready?" Averill asked.
"I'm scared out of my mind," Wood answered honestly. Averill just laughed.
"I was so lucky that she gave me that opportunity," Wood said. "I didn't want to blow it."
Maeke Boreel was a freshman from The Netherlands who arrived on campus with just two backpacks and a field hockey stick.
"I had some clothes and that was it," she said. "Maria Whitehead took me to the bank to get it set up and took me to go get a cell phone. She just helped me out and made me feel at home right away. She was a huge part of the team. Being a freshman not from the country and not really knowing anything, she took me by the hand both on and off the field.
"That's something I could never thank her enough for. She was a huge part of winning that championship. She was a talented player, but also a natural leader that we all fed off."
Boreel didn't feel the heartbreak from the back-to-back Final Four seasons, but experienced the drive and passion from the Wake Forest upperclassmen immediately.
"Coming in as a freshman and not knowing the history or the previous season, it was a blank slate for me," she said. "It was about following the team's lead and listening to them. You could feel the energy from them about their experiences.
"Okay, this is our year. It was both confident yet humble. This team was focused. They knew what they were going after, and you could feel that from day one. That was the goal. It wasn't a hope, it was a goal. It was cool to be part of that."
The championship doesn't come to fruition for the Demon Deacons without the contributions of the freshmen class.
"They didn't feel the heartbreak we did from the year before against Michigan or from 2000 against Old Dominion, but they still had that passion," Doton said. "They followed us. We told them we needed them, and they bought into their roles. They were awesome."
"It's important to have upperclassmen that embrace the freshmen, and we had some impactful freshmen," Dostal said. "We wanted to make sure we had the best talent on the team, and wanted to make sure we had the best 11 on the field at any one time. We wrapped our arms around the entire roster.
"Everyone played a critical role. Every person in the program was valued. We did a great job of setting aside egos and helping the freshmen transition as quickly as possible. We would have never been national champions without the impact of those freshmen."
EARLY-SEASON SNAFU
Despite the drive and determination, the Deacs faced some early-season adversity, losing two of their first three contests, falling 1-0 to Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Chapel Hill, then falling 2-1 at James Madison a week later. Of course, sandwiched between those two losses was a 2-0 victory over defending national champion Michigan.
"It was a rude awakening for us," Dostal said. "Let's get refocused. It's a long season, so let's continue to improve. You're just trying to mesh and gel and get out some of the early-season kinks. Sometimes good teams losing those early games can teach you some tough lessons, but they're often the best lessons as you reflect back on them."
Although those two losses certainly weren't part of the plan, it clearly worked to the Deacs' benefit, as it showed them exactly what needed to improve.
"What do we need to work on?" Averill asked. "Where do we go from here? The season is a process and that's all a part of it. Nobody wants to drop those early games, but we had a really talented group, and they needed more experience with one another to find what they were capable of."
Although they rebounded with a 4-3 win at Louisville to move to 2-2 on the season, Whitehead didn't believe they were playing anywhere near their potential.
"We need to get our heads out of our asses, get back to Winston-Salem and get back to work," she told the team, according to goalkeeper Katie Ridd.
Ridd knew this wasn't the way the seniors had envisioned their final season playing out.
"It was a horrible start," Ridd said. "We were all miserable.
"What was special about that season, once we got back from Louisville, is we had time to tinker. She and Neil (Macmillan) just kept reassembling and re-working people to try to figure out what was working. She created this wave, where we just got two-to-five percent better each game. So by the time we got to the Final Four, we were operating at such a high level. We didn't peak a day or a week too early."
IT'S TERP TIME
By the time No. 1 Maryland came to Winston-Salem on Nov. 21, the Deacs had moved to 4-2 with wins over Delaware and Radford. They were clearly figuring some things out.
"We went to overtime and the story was very different," Dostal said. "We beat them, didn't lose to Maryland again and didn't lose again — winning the national championship three-straight seasons.
"It was clear we were all on the same page and all committed to the same mission. We wanted to enjoy the process as well. We still had a good time, but everyone was dedicated to how we approached everything."
The wins started to pile up for the Deacs. They defeated Duke 3-0, North Carolina 2-1, UMass 8-0 and No. 6 Penn State 6-1. Suddenly the team that had lost two out of their first three games was rising up the national rankings.
"There was so much chatter about us from other teams, folks who were doubting how good we were and that provided an edge for us," Doton said. "We checked the Coaches Poll every day. We didn't feel disrespected, but we hadn't yet had some of the success yet as some of the other programs. We just kept our heads down and kept grinding.
"We'd sit in the training room and the Coaches Poll would come out. You could see how many teams were voting, based on the number one votes. Even when we did make it to No. 1, there were still other teams getting first-place votes. That kind of made us mad. It secretly helped. It wasn't great motivation, and I don't even know if Jen knows that story."
Doton said it wasn't fear of losing for the Deacs, but elation in the victories.
"We are No. 1 and we're going to show it," she said. "We just wanted to go out and beat everyone, and show the country that Wake Forest was here to stay."
ROAD TO LOUISVILLE
After going undefeated in ACC play, the Deacs claimed the ACC Tournament Championship with a 2-1 victory over Duke and then a shutout 4-0 win over 2001 nemesis Maryland. The Blue Devil goal was the only one scored against the Deacs in postseason play, as Wake Forest outscored its opponents a combined 21-1 through six matches on their way to a pair of championships.
"I was in goal, so my name is attached to that, but it had very little to do with me," Ridd said. "They had manufactured such a beautiful defense in front of me. They had to do all the work. When the ball got through one out of ten times, I had to do my job, but they did such a great job of keeping the ball away from me.
"It was never a goal to shutout the tournament. I don't remember making any death-defying saves. I just felt so covered by the team."
"Our defense was really good," Doton said. "We had Lucy Shaw back there, who was the anchor for us. She was so calm and kept us all organized."
Squaring off against Maryland in the ACC Championship game was a statement contest for the Deacs.
"We had a close game against Duke in the semis," Doton said. "We knew it was going to be tough. If you'd told me we'd win that game 4-0, I wouldn't have believed you.
"As soon as we won the ACC Championship, we felt like nothing was going to stop us. We knew it was going to be difficult, but playing at home for the first two rounds for a chance to get to the Final Four — we raised one trophy and we wanted to get one more."
Winning the ACC Championship in such an emphatic manner gave the Deacs an unbelievable amount of confidence. When added with the upward trajectory throughout the season of the team, that became a lethal combination.
"When you knock off a No. 1 team, that's going to build up a certain level of confidence," Dostal said. "We knew there would be a number of other great teams we would be facing. Then winning the ACC Championship gives you a lot of confidence. If you win the ACC, then you have a great shot of winning the whole thing. That prepared us for going into the NCAA Tournament."
Shutting out the Terps was just the start of the Demon Deacons impressive defensive run in tournament play, as they failed to allow even a single goal in NCAA Tournament competition.
"We had an incredible backfield, from Katie Riggs, our keeper, to the defensive line in front of her," Dostal said. "There was a lot of depth and talent there. You have a lot of communication and organization coming from our defensive unit that made it tough for teams to attack. We also had a strong attack that could put good pressure on our defense in the practice environment. We had a lot of talent and experience."
"There's no way anybody can score against us, and we can't lose if they don't score," trainer Scott Spernoga said.
CHAMPIONS
The Deacs got to play the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at home, and dispatched Cal 8-0 in the first round, then defeated Duke for a third time that season 2-0 to advance to the Final Four in Louisville.
"We're winning this thing," Whitehead proclaimed to a national TV audience as the Deacs arrived at the University of Louisville's Trager Stadium. Somewhere along the way, the team had nicknamed the national championship trophy "Ben" and proclaimed that "Big Ben is coming home to Winston-Salem."
"Maria Whitehead and those seniors were such an important part of what we were doing," Ridd said. "We had such a great coaching staff. We had so much talent, a lot of heart and great coaching with diverse perspectives. We had these absolute phenoms who carried us through rough moments. And those girls from the northeast had a lot of swagger. Some called us cocky, but we just played with grit, and Maria was a lot of that."
The goal was always to play on Sunday, that being the day of the national championship, and the Deacs achieved that with a 3-0 victory over Michigan State.
"All the right personalities of players came in at the same time," Wood said. "If we all hadn't bought in, or if one of us were on a different page, I don't think we would have had the success we did. We just had the right chemistry. We still talk to each other all the time. It was 20 years ago, but when we see each other it's like nothing has changed. It's the coolest thing of the whole deal, and I'll take that over everything else."
When they got to Sunday, the Deacs took care of business, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal from Doton, who had earned ACC Player of the Year honors. Boreel had the assist on the Doton goal, but Aughinbaugh provided the final margin with an unassisted goal just three minutes later as the Deacs downed Penn State 2-0 to claim the national championship.
"Who do we hug first?" Averill recalls. "You just grab people. It was unbelievable. Everybody who was a part of building Wake Forest Field Hockey history. At the moment, you don't realize what it is you've just accomplished. In that moment, you're literally just running around with your hair on fire trying to celebrate.
"I just want this to last hours, weeks and months. There's one team that can feel that joy and pride."
Spernoga was the athletic trainer for the team, starting in 1998 and going through 2012. He's now the lead trainer for the women's basketball program.
"I was very fortunate to be part of those championship runs," he said. "I've worked with a lot of teams over the years, but there was just something special going on. Everybody felt it, but nobody at the time realized just how special it was. They honestly couldn't wait to get back on the field. The whole aura and vibe was something like I'd never seen."
Ridd, a junior at the time, was touched over the support the team received from the entire Wake Forest community.
"When we flew home and the Quad was rolled with people to meet us as we got off the bus, I started crying," she said. "It was probably one of the highest moments of my life. The way Wake Forest showed up to support us during that year — the fraternities and sororities, and the entire school came together. They made us feel so special. It was a whole university win. I feel like everybody celebrated with us, and that was so meaningful to be a part of."
"Wake Forest is a really special place," Dostal said. "It's a small school and the athletes across sports are really close. Our team spent a lot of time together — on trips, meals and study hall. But we genuinely enjoyed it. We're still close to this day. It's special when you come away from something and you're all in touch and catch up regularly. You're tied together for winning a national championship, but also because you're good people and care about each other."
It ended up being the first of three-consecutive national championships for the Wake Forest field hockey program.
"That first national championship was so special," Averill said. "I had a staff who was really good, and players who would tell us to just sit back and watch them win. Who does that? I couldn't wait for the game to start to just watch. It was a really cool synergy to be a part of.
"You don't truly appreciate the special parts of it until you have time to reflect. You prepare to win and keep going."
Whitehead, who lost her life to skin cancer in 2006, was a diminutive 5-foot-5, 105-pounds when she arrived on campus for a recruiting visit; but had a belief in herself and belief in Averill that belied her size.
"She had a contagious attitude, was jovial and could keep everyone in a good space," Averill recalls. "Maria had an unbelievable belief about herself. Nothing was too big. Everything was possible, so why not us? That fueled a lot of players' beliefs and my belief.
"Her ability to believe in herself and believe in me — I've never had a player verbally tell me that whatever you think you want to accomplish as a coach, I'm the player who can help you get there. And then for us to actually do it? That was really special."
