WINSTON SALEM -- All in all, Duke's field hockey team had a successful season.
A very successful one at that.
The team won a NCAA tournament game for the first time since 1992. It made it to the elite eight for just the second time in school history. It ended its three year losing streak in ACC play. It finished with fourteen wins, third most in school history. It came within a 5-4 double overtime loss of beating North Carolina to end the 48-game winning streak the Tar Heels currently hold over Duke. It beat two top-ten teams. It had the freshman of the year in ACC--Katie Grant--and conference all-stars in senior Sarah Wright and sophomore Gracie Sorbello. The list goes on.
All of this, and only three players graduate.
Perhaps the most important stretch of the year was the last one, this weekend's NCAA tournament. After demanding more respect from their opponents the entire year, the Blue Devils finally got it. Wake Forest's head coach Jennifer Averill had only nice things to say after the fiercely contested Demon Deacon win over the Blue Devils that landed Wake Forest in the Final Four.
"Another strong performance by our opponent Duke," Averill said. "1-0 up on Duke does not mean anything. We have a tremendous amount of respect for them."
This weekend did something else for Duke's field hockey program.
"It raised the bar," head coach Liz Tchou said. "I could not believe how much we improved from the beginning of the season up until the end. And it just shows that these kids are able to handle different tactics, different game strategies, different corner set-ups.
So what does this all mean?
Simply put, this season was not a break out season for Duke.
The Blue Devils beat the teams they were supposed to beat and lost to who they were supposed to lose to.
Yesterday was a great example. It was clear that Wake Forest was a better team. It dominated the first half, completely. The only way Duke was going to win was if Wake couldn't finish its many chances and Duke converted one of its few.
All told, this season was a stepping stone toward future--a future where Duke wins ACC tournaments and goes to NCAA Final Fours, and wins those too.
In other words, the field hockey team is not one of the best programs in the country yet, but it is on its way to getting there. It is spearheaded by the strength of its underclassmen, and it has the respect of all its opponents.
Now the Blue Devils simply need a group of cohesive underclassmen who can help the program over the hump and into the upper echelon over in the next two years. No easy task, but the foundation is laid.
"This is a very intelligent group," Tchou said. "We are looking forward to continuing what we have been doing because we lose three seniors but we have a group of players who have gone through this season and this whole process. We are looking forward to the spring to get these girl's skills to the next level. I think if we can get our set plays a bit stronger that will be great. We can compete with anyone between the 25 yard lines, but there are certain things we can build on for next year."
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