After annihilating its last two opponents last week by a combined 16-1 score, the field hockey team faced much stiffer competition this weekend. And Duke discovered the definition of "stiffer competition" can refer to yourself as well as your opponents.
Duke (2-2, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) lost 3-1 at William & Mary on Saturday. On Sunday, the Blue Devils traveled to College Park, Md., where the Terrapins trounced Duke 7-3.
"On Saturday we beat ourselves, and on Sunday, well, Maryland is a very good team," head coach Jacki Silar said.
Starting the weekend, a sense of confidence pervaded the team. This optimism stems from an influx of new players. Duke possesses a superb class of freshmen--the fastest group in Silar's 15 years.
That new hope continued on Saturday, or at least it did for the first half, as sophomore Melissa Panasci netted the game's first goal 7:59 into the contest. Although Duke could not score the rest of the game, it did control the tempo. The Blue Devils outshot the Tribe 19 to six for the game.
In the second half, however, reality rode into town, and her name was Saskia Bensdorp. With 18 minutes remaining, Bensdorp evened the match off a direct corner. Five minutes later, Bensdorp struck again when she again beat Duke senior goalie Heather Moles. With the game still in doubt, Bensdorp twisted the knife that she had already stuck into Duke's back by putting the game out of doubt.
Bensdorp tallied the hat trick when she blasted a 15-foot bullet from the left side past Moles, giving the Tribe the 3-1 victory. While Bensdorp provided the fire, William & Mary netminder Jenn Rinella acted as the extinguisher by recording 15 saves and shutting out Duke for the final 62 minutes.
"We led for 45 minutes and then decided not to play," Silar said. "We beat ourselves. We had scoring opportunities including open cages, but we just didn't put it in."
Sunday's match against Maryland featured fast-paced action with both teams employing their speed to the fullest. The game started with a bang as Lynsey McVicker gave the Terps a 1-0 lead a mere 2:15 into the game. But Panasci answered a minute later off a penalty corner assisted by seniors Tamara Gehris and Nicole Osmers. Maryland's talent soon proved to be too much, with the Terrapins netting two more goals before intermission.
"[Maryland] is a very good team," Silar said. "They possess a lot of foreign players that have national experience."
In the second half, Maryland picked up right where it left off. McVicker scored 15 minutes into the half and sophomore Nadine Bennett from Cheguta, Zimbabwe netted another two minutes later giving the Terps a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Duke attempted one last effort at a comeback, as Gehris scored off of sophomore Cyndi Breyer's assist 27 seconds after Bennett's tally. Maryland quickly stamped out any Blue Devil resurgence with goals from Christine DeBow and another from Bennett.
"Even though we were down, we kept pushing and playing hard," Silar said. "Unlike Saturday, we played the whole 70 minutes. I was happy with our effort."
Duke's own scoring machine, Panasci, closed out the 7-3 game with her second goal of the contest. Panasci now has nine goals in four games.
In order to achieve its goal of a top three ACC finish, Duke still must find another scorer besides Panasci who can match up with the rest of the ACC.
"We don't look at the past," Silar said. "We don't even talk about it. It's not an issue. We are looking ahead."
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