PRINCETON, N.J.- Pride was the key word for the field hockey team (6-10) this weekend.
The Blue Devils, who need to win the ACC tournament to make the NCAAs, lacked it in the first half against Princeton, but showed a lot of heart at the end of the game that translated into a much-needed win at Villanova.
After opening up with an abysmal first half at Princeton (7-3) Sunday, in which the Tigers took a 4-0 lead, Duke stepped up the intensity and won the second half, 2-1. After the 5-2 loss, Duke traveled to Villanova and handed the Wildcats a 5-3 loss in their home finale.
No. 7 Princeton came out aggressively and attacked a Duke team that was perhaps a little shell-shocked from its disappointing season. Princeton senior Melanie Meerschwam recorded a goal and an assist and senior Hilary Matson had 2 goals, while the Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
Duke senior Courtney Sommer characterized the mood of desperation after the onslaught.
"At halftime," Sommer said. "We came out and said 'We have nothing to lose' and played with pride [in the second half]."
And play with pride they did. After surrendering one more goal to Princeton when Ilvy Friebe scored on a counterattack with 30:09 remaining, Duke took the initiative.
Melissa Yuppa scored when she deflected Sommer's shot off a corner play into the cage with 20:05 remaining. Duke scored again with 14:28 left when Kim Gogola knocked a Jennelle Moore rebound past the Princeton goalie. In addition, the Blue Devils generated a number of other scoring opportunities, but could not put the ball in the cage.
Yuppa was extremely upset about Duke's play in the first half.
"I'm really pleased with the way we ended," she said. "But the way we started... we can't do that anymore."
Coach Liz Tchou was less than thrilled with her team's performance in the first half, but was more upbeat about the second.
"I'm proud that they came back and played with more heart in the second half," Tchou said. "We even had the chance to score four or five goals in the second half. We just could not put the ball in the cage.
"At this point our chances of making the NCAA tournament are very slim. We came into [the Princeton] game knowing we were 5-9 and that we needed to win four in a row and one in the ACC tournament. We didn't do that. From here on out we just have to play for pride."
Her team responded with that show of pride Tuesday when they took on Villanova. In fact, this pride was evident as Duke came back from being down twice during the contest.
The Blue Devils answered Villanova's first goal with a Sommer goal with 14:58 left in the first half. After Christina Lugones scored to take a 2-1 lead for the Wildcats, Duke responded with four straight goals. This rally was precipitated by Liz Bateman's game-tying goal with 6:35 left, a reverse stick chip into the corner.
"Liz Bateman's goal was the best I've seen all year," Tchou said.
Bateman struck again with 28:39 left in the game, off an assist by Angie North. Seven minutes later North picked up another assist, this time as Stacey Tsougas scored. Duke's last goal came with 4:59 remaining when Robin Merritt converted on a penalty stroke. Villanova would score once more to make the game look more competitive, but Duke emerged with the victory.
"We were like warriors out there," Tchou said. "We never gave up. We finally came back from behind, which was something we needed to do."
The win gives the team a shot in the arm before they host Virginia in the ACC regular season finale Oct. 27.
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