The women's field hockey team traveled to St. Louis this weekend to participate in the Big 10/ACC Challenge and find out how it measures up against out-of-conference competition. The result was not what the team had in mind.
Duke lost 2-1 to Michigan St. yesterday at the Anheuser-Busch Conference and Sports Center to drop to 0-2 on the year.
"Michigan State did a great job to get us out of our game plan," coach Liz Tchou said.
The Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead in the 21st minute of action when junior midfielder Angie North scored Duke's first goal of the season. However, Michigan State responded nine minutes later when junior forward Bridget Cooper smashed a penalty corner past Duke goalie Erica Perrier with three minutes to go in the first half to tie the score going into halftime.
The deciding goal came with six minutes to play, as Spartan midfielder Alexandra Kyser scored off a feed from Cooper to put Michigan State up for good.
The Blue Devils best chance to score in the second half came when senior back Courtney Sommer was awarded a penalty stroke. Similar to a penalty shot in ice hockey, an attacking player is given a one-on-one opportunity with the opposing team's goalie. Michigan State goalie Mireille Evans stopped Sommer's shot to keep the game tied at one.
The result was particularly frustrating given the team's high hopes entering the season. Last year's squad went 13-8 and made its second NCAA tournament appearance in four years. This year's squad dropped its opener against North Carolina. However, the loss can not be classified as a shocker, considering the Tar Heels have beaten the Blue Devils 43 straight times and North Carolina is a perennial power in the sport of field hockey.
However, Michigan State is no North Carolina. The Spartans finished last season 9-10, with a 2-8 record in the Big 10. This season the Spartans have beaten Appalachian State, but have lost to Northwestern and Wake Forest, the second game by a score of 6-0. Wake Forest and Duke are expected to battle to keep out of the cellar of the ACC conference standings.
The Blue Devils return to action today when they take on the Michigan at noon to complete the Big 10/ACC Challenge. Michigan knocked the Blue Devils out of last year's NCAA tournament in the first round and proceeded to advance to the NCAA championship game, where they lost to Maryland.
Michigan enters the game 2-1. They lost yesterday to the Tar Heels by a score of 4-2.
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