CHAPEL HILL -- The field hockey team had a frustrating weekend, squandering an opportunity to beat North Carolina and end a 48-game losing streak, falling 3-1 in Chapel Hill Saturday. Duke (10-6) rebounded by sinking visiting Radford 2-0 Sunday afternoon.
Sophomores Stacy Tsougas and Kim Van Kirk paced the Blue Devils against Radford (5-8), scoring their fourth and ninth goals of the season, respectively. Midway through the first half, Tsougas collected a rebound off a Gracie Sorbello blast and slipped it past the Highlander goalie. Van Kirk's goal came on a redirection of junior Jessica Fluck's bouncing cross three minutes into the second half, giving her a team-leading 23 points on the year.
The Blue Devils controlled most of the game--Radford had only two legitimate scoring chances the entire time--but struggled to put the ball into the cage, especially on penalty corners. Players and coaches alike lamented the loss of sophomore Johanna Bischof, who usually stops the ball on corners and sets up shots for her teammates.
"If you change stoppers, it's going to be so much slower," senior Chrissie Ashley. "You can't really get the corners off. That's our problem, but we'll get better."
Saturday's game against the vaunted Tar Heels was equally frustrating, though more physical and intense.
"It would have been great to upset them, but unfortunately, we didn't get the job done," sophomore Chrissie Murphy said. "It's upsetting because I think we all know that we match them in skill and player for player."
The Duke players had more than enough motivation coming into the North Carolina game as the Tar Heels' streak was in peril��North Carolina was in the midst of a three-game losing streak and was missing a handful of starters to injury.
Duke played well early on. After Laura Douglas beat Duke freshmen goalie Christy Morgan to put North Carolina up 1-0 in the sixth minute, Murphy evened the score midway through the first half with her third goal on the season.
The tie remained until North Carolina took advantage of a sluggish Duke start in the second half. Douglas netted her second goal of the game, this time off a busted corner three minutes in. Yet it was only a one goal game coming down the stretch, and Duke was still in it. Head coach Liz Tchou thought her team stopped pressing the Tar Heels.
"I was just disappointed," Tchou said. "We were still down only one goal with ten minutes left, and the last ten minutes we did not go after them. We didn't attack as well as we could then."
The contest was a typical Duke-North Carolina game, as it was very physical.
"They were playing dirty," Murphy said. "Some girl poked me in the knee. It was pretty frustrating, that's how the game is. The rivalry is so strong, and both teams tend to be really physical, and I think we matched them push for shove."
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