Victory never came easy to anybody. The field hockey team figured this out the hard way in its two games this weekend.
After suffering a heartbreaking loss Saturday afternoon to Old Dominion University, the Blue Devils were able salvage a split of their weekend double by slamming Radford 4-0 on Sunday. The defeat on Saturday turned what could have been a monumental feat into another notch in the oh-so-close category.
"Old Dominion played extremely well," head coach Jacki Silar said. "If we had played well, we could have defeated a top-10 team."
The match began like it was going to be an early dose of lights out for the Blue Devils. Only two minutes had passed in the contest before the Monarchs tallied their first goal. The recent streaky play ofDanielle Chellew continued as she capitalized on the setup from Samantha Salvia and Dani Derr to tilt the game Old Dominion's way.
The match was locked at 1-0 for nearly 13 minutes until Duke drew second blood. Sophomore forward Melissa Panasci recorded her 21st goal of the season following a clean set-up by senior Tamara Gehris and junior Alison DeLeo.
The goal was sort of like a small victory within a defeat for the team.
"They scored first quickly, but it was good that we came right back and scored right away," Silar said.
Unfortunately for Duke, the Monarchs made sure that their second goal couldn't be answered as Chellew orchestrated her seventh goal in two days with only a few minutes left in regulation. The last-minute heroics again left Duke at the short end searching for a high quality win, as Old Dominion held on for the 2-1 victory.
"We didn't generate a lot of offense," Silar said. "It was not a good overall team effort. We did have some good individual play as Heather Moles had a great game in goal and Emily Ford came in and did a nice job."
The Blue Devils had a chance to redeem themselves against Radford in the second half of their weekend play. Trying to avoid getting behind early, the team was able to jump out to a lead in the first half and never looked back.
Leading the way for Duke in the game was Panasci. The stellar sophomore continued to pile up her seasonal and career stats following her three-goal barrage. After this weekend's play, she already finds herself fourth on Duke's all-time career goals-scored list with 35.
It was not only the Panasci show that led to a 22-3 advantage in shots and a convincing 13-1 edge in corners for Duke. It was a strong offensive game in addition to a gritty performance by Moles that led to the shutout.
"We played real well," Silar said on Sunday. "It was a great team effort. Everybody except the backup goalie got a chance to play. We were able to generate a lot more offense today."
The team hopes that the offense of today will result in the goals of tomorrow as the Blue Devils prepare to return to the Atlantic Coast Conference gauntlet and begin its difficult second season.
"We have Wake Forest coming up this week as we get ready to enter the second round of the ACC," Silar said. "We really need to be playing well."
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