COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- While most Duke students took it easy over Fall Break the field hockey team had the task of travelling to No. 1 Maryland, in College Park, Md. Saturday afternoon.
They returned to Durham to face the Villanova Wildcats Monday.
When classes resumed Wednesday morning, the team had mixed weekend results to reflect on. After the Terps thrashed the Blue Devils 5-0, No. 12 Duke rebounded, downing the Wildcats 2-0 Monday afternoon. The win improved Duke's home record to 6-1 on the season and 9-5 overall.
Duke beat Villanova behind the power of its underclassmen. Sophomore Chrissy Murphy and freshman Katie Grant scored each of the Blue Devils' goals, while freshman Christy Morgan celebrated her second straight start by blanking the Wildcats. Grant's sixth goal of the season, which came in a scrum in front of the cage, gave her 20 points this season, the team's second highest. Also joining the youth movement was sophomore Johanna Bischoff. The British Columbia native posted a team-high ninth assist when she dished the ball to Murphy for her third goal of the season.
Saturday's game against the Terps was a different story.
Maryland stifled Duke by shutting off passing lanes and controlling the middle of the field. The Blue Devils were reduced to hitting long balls past the reach of their forwards and advancing the ball from the outside, where they did have some success.
"When we got the ball to the outside we did well," said head coach Liz Tchou. "We just kept trying to pump the ball up the middle, and that's where Maryland's strength was. If we had done that more consistently, it probably would have been a different result."
Yet, Duke did have some chances to score. With a little more than two minutes left in the first half, Grant spilt two Maryland defenders in front of the goal and had the goalie out of position, but her backhanded shot was not on target. Had Grant finished that play successfully, the score would likely have been 2-1 going into halftime. Later in the second half, for about ten minutes, Duke pressed Maryland and controlled the game.
"Their sweepers and goalie were just brick walls," Tchou said.
Then Maryland scored again, extinguishing any chances of a Duke rally.
The loss drops Duke's ACC record to 0-3.
After the game, Duke's players refused to concede that they could not compete with the top teams in the country. Senior Chrissy Ashley said it wasn't that Maryland was doing unstoppable things-Duke just did was not playing smart.
"We are not a 5-0 team against Maryland," Ashley said. "It's not that they are the better team. We can play with the best of them and beat the best of them. We showed that we can play with them in the second half. We know what we need to do, and it's little, easy, simple things that we need to fix."
Duke, who jumped to No. 10 in the most recent national poll, will travel Saturday to No. 12 North Carolina. The Blue Devils will have the task of avenging a 5-4 double overtime loss to the Tar Heels earlier this month, and of reversing the 47-game winning streak North Carolina currently holds over them.
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