New offense, 6 seniors led field hockey to NCAAs

At the beginning of the season, the skies seemed finally to be clearing for the field hockey team, following last season's 10-10 finish and first-round loss to Virginia in the ACC tournament.

Instead, a scoring slump and three injured players temporarily clouded the Blue Devils' sunny forecast.

It took Hurricane Floyd and a new offense to finally clear the radar for coach Liz Tchou and the 1999 squad to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years.

The 11th-ranked Blue Devils' season ended Saturday in a 2-1 first-round loss to Michigan, but neither Duke's coach nor its players focused on the negative.

"I'm glad the season ended on such a good note," senior Corey Ceccolini said. "It was a hard fought game and we put our hearts and souls into it."

Duke (13-8, 1-3 in ACC) returned to action this year with six seniors and a new wide-open attacking offense. The seniors were the last remnants of head coach Liz Tchou's first season, the last team to reach the NCAAs, but the new offense came from new assistant coach, Cindy Werley.

"Having [Werley] on the staff has really changed [my mindset] from defense to offense," Tchou said. "We all learned from Cindy that the best defense is a great attack."

Duke opened the season with a win over William & Mary and then lost to North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The loss was no surprise to the Blue Devils. The last time Duke beat the Tar Heels was 1981.

"We had to ride the storm [after the Wake Forest game]," Tchou said, "and we ended up with five wins, which is huge."

Floyd hit the day after the Radford game, and the skies finally cleared for the Blue Devils. Ceccolini began producing the numbers that put her fourth on the all-time goals-in-a-season list, while junior standout Courtney Sommer was not far behind.

The Blue Devils finally realized their offensive potential on a fortunate Sunday in September.

Duke had crushed Appalachian State 9-0 the Friday before and faced defending national champion, No. 2 Old Dominion, at Williams Field two days later. Ceccolini found every hole in the Lady Monarchs' defense and exploited them for a hat trick, while the Blue Devil defense and senior goalie Jenn Robb allowed only two goals on 21 Lady Monarch shots.

"We were sort of coming out of our defensive shell then and came out knowing our capabilities and knowing we could score goals," Tchou said of the 3-2 victory. "[The players] showed by their actions that we can be a potent team."

It was the first time Duke had defeated Old Dominion in school history.

The Blue Devils kept cruising, until they met with two more ACC opponents, Maryland and North Carolina.

The Terps snapped Duke's winning streak as quickly as it had started and the Blue Devils fared no better against the Tar Heels the second time around.

What was needed was another dominant offensive weekend against another 1998 NCAA finalist, so the Blue Devils went north to play 16th-ranked Princeton.

Duke gnawed on Yale 2-1, then moved on to Princeton for the main course. After a 3-1 victory, the Blue Devils knew they were ready for tougher competition.

"That weekend was the best weekend we've ever had since I've been here," Tchou said. "I've never seen them fight as hard as they did in that game and want it so badly."

Tchou and the team returned to Durham to face Wake Forest as a different squad.

Duke fought for the win, 2-1, and Helwig, now sporting a knee brace, scored the winning goal.

"If it weren't for [Helwig's] winning goal against Wake we wouldn't be in this position," Tchou said. "We wouldn't have had the chance to prepare for the NCAAs."

Tchou was right-Duke's top-five wins over Old Dominion and Wake went a long way toward garnering the Blue Devils' third-ever NCAA berth.

"I'm glad we ended the season strong," Tchou said. "All the seniors can say to themselves that they gave it everything, that there are no regrets. It makes it easier to see them go when that happens."