Duke's field hockey team started this weekend with a yelp but ended with a roar as it completed its regular season on the road in Virginia.
It was survival Saturday and record-book Sunday for the Blue Devils (16-2, 2-2 in the ACC), who eked out a 3-2 win over No. 13 Richmond Saturday afternoon before routing Virginia (10-9, 0-4 in the ACC) 6-1 late Sunday in its last conference contest of the season.
Duke finishes the season with a 16-2 record and an eight-game winning streak in coach Beth Bozman's first year at the helm of program which has always been successful but has never won an ACC or NCAA championship.
"It's been a tremendous run for us, and the way we played today, I don't think it's over," Bozman said. "We just hit a great stride today....we just put it together."
16 wins are tied for the most in program history.
"Did I expect to have the kind of season we had?" Bozman asked. "I would be lying if I said yeah. Our first weekend, we went to the [the house of senior captain Kim Van Kirk], and Mr. Van Kirk toasted us, saying, 'let's get to the Final Four' and [all the coaches] looked at each other and just said 'woah.'"
"I knew the talent was there. We play such a hard schedule. We just made big steps and continued to improve each game....we've never looked back."
As the third seed, Duke will be exempt from playing the play-in game in the conference tournament. The ACC has five programs that play field hockey--four of which occupy spots one, two, three and four in the national polls.
"The seniors on this team have never not played in the play-in game," Bozman said. "It's a payback for all the strides they've made all season. For one thing, I guess it gives credit to their accomplishments to get a bye and from a physical standpoint, it makes it possible to win the championship."
On Saturday versus Richmond, Duke jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Spiders scored twice to even the score midway though the second half.
The Blue Devils' Graice Sorbello scored the decisive goal when she slammed home teammate Johanna Bischof's pass off a penalty corner with less than four minutes left in the game.
Juniors Bischof and Sorbello also connected to score off a penalty corner on Sunday, which gave Sorbello a team-leading 18 goals on the year. Bischof recorded her 24th assist of the season on the play, and she now leads the Blue Devils and the nation in that category.
In addition, Bischof reached 39 career assists on Sunday--tied for the most ever in program history--while sophomore teammate Katie Grant netted a pair of goals, giving her 50 points on the season--third best in Duke history.
Duke plays in the semifinals of the ACC tournament Friday in Charlottesville.
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