Duke field hockey has finally turned the corner.
Fresh off a commanding 8-0 win last Tuesday over Appalachian State, Duke stepped on its home turf for the first time this weekend with a new confidence and an eye for the goal. Knocking off both Virginia Commonwealth (3-0) and No. 9 James Madison (3-2), Duke is finally showing that there is a lot more to its team than its previous 1-4 record had revealed.
Duke came out with a bang against VCU Saturday, capitalizing on a penalty corner only three minutes into regulation play. Sophomore midfielder Chrissy Ashley fired in her third goal of the season off a flip pass from junior captain Angie North.
The Blue Devils continued to pressure VCU's rookie goal tender Anne Forrester, racking up five corners and shots, one of which was netted by junior Liz Bateman, putting the Devils up two at the half.
The intensity seemed to drop a level in the second 35 minutes and Duke's frustration mounted with careless errors and lost ball possession. The third goal finally came when captain Courtney Sommer saved a Duke penalty corner play gone awry and slapped the ball into the net with only 3:20 left in the game.
Though happy to add a win to their record, the Blue Devils were somewhat disappointed with the missed scoring opportunities and inconsistent level of play, especially with a difficult match against ninth-ranked James Madison Dukes less than a day away.
"It's just a matter of playing 70 minutes consistently," junior forward Robin Merritt said. "With this team we could make mistakes, but JMU won't be so forgiving."
Whatever fears Merritt and the rest of her team may have had about consistent play were certainly conquered yesterday against James Madison as the Blue Devils put out more fire and energy than has yet been seen this season. And this time, they played the entire 70 minutes.
The match was a back-and-forth battle for the first 20 minutes of play until finally, on Dukes second penalty corner of the half, freshman Stacey Tsougas tipped in a shot from Ashley.
A furious JMU, which has accumulated five wins and only one loss so far this season, retaliated quickly however, as senior Liz Sanders scored on a penalty corner only two minutes later.
The intensity mounted as the Duke forward line created several beautiful scoring opportunities against JMU goalie Amanda Latz. But the score remained a tie at the half for the two well-matched teams, Duke acquiring eight shots on goal to JMU's six.
But after a humiliating 7-1 loss to the Dukes last year, the Blue Devils would not settle for a tie. Five minutes and two penalty corners into the second half, Sommer, after stick stopping a push pass from sophomore back Sarah Wright, faked out the defense and fired in a hard shot from the top of the circle.
This time Duke would not allow JMU to strike back. With 22 minutes remaining, Ashley drove in a shot off a flip pass from Sommer on yet another penalty corner.
Duke managed to hold JMU right down to the last second, when Sanders flipped in a final fluke goal against Duke goalkeeper Erica Perrier. But the victory had already been sealed.
"This was a huge win," coach Liz Tchou said. "We truly followed our game plan. This game will be such a boost for us. I'm glad we started our season with such a difficult schedule. This game proves that we can learn from our losses."
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