With a backdrop of mascots perhaps only suitable for Halloween week, the Blue Devils (12-7, 1-3 in the ACC) faced 17th Century English royalists and X-Men this weekend at home.
With the ACC tournament looming, the No. 11 field hockey team gathered steam for the postseason as it finished up its regular season with games against Virginia and Michigan. The end result was a 4-2 win over the No. 20 Cavaliers (9-9, 0-4) Friday and a 3-2 loss to the No. 2 ranked Wolverines (17-2) Sunday afternoon.
Despite the loss to defending national champion Michigan, both players and coaches were pleased with the team's performance this weekend. All in all, it was a successful three days.
The Blue Devils won their first ACC game in over three years, revived their offense, celebrated Senior Day, and took the second best team in the country right down to the wire. And even though they did win against the Wolverines, they could take solace in the fact that they stayed competitive the entire game
"It was awesome [to finally win an ACC game. But we know that we are good," Chrissy Ashley said. "The last two games we have just come out really strong. I do not think it was because of Senior Day. We are just playing really well together right now."
Ashley did not waste any time taking advantage of her day against the Wolverines. One of just three seniors on the team, the Plains, Pa., native got the Blue Devils on the scoreboard first 10 minutes into the game when she set up freshman Katie Grant for the first score of the game. Ashley's pass was ridiculously accurate, as it came from approximately 40 yards out.
The low moving rocket somehow avoided the sticks of several Michigan defenders before hitting junior Kim Van Kirk's stick. From there, the ball deflected to Grant, who put the ball away in the upper corner of the cage to record her eighth goal of the year.
Not to be outdone, the Wolverines scored their first goal seven minutes later in an identical manner. Stephanie Johnson's free hit from just outside the arc flew into the box, and teammate Adrienne Hortillosa redirected the ball past freshman Duke goalkeeper Christy Morgan.
Coming out of the halftime huddle down 2-1, the Blue Devil players looked to swing the momentum back to their side-but the ferocious cats would not cooperate.
Just 36 seconds into the half, Michigan scored its third goal of the game when Johnson finished off a penalty stroke to beat Morgan. Just like that, Duke trailed 3-1.
"Today we put two halves together," sophomore Johanna Bischof said.
Her penalty stroke with five minutes left brought Duke within one, but that was as close as they would get.
After the game, the players and coaches spoke fondly of the team's three seniors: Ashley, Sarah Wright, and Erica Perrier.
"They are a huge part of our team," Bischof said. "Sarah Wright has started practically every game since her freshman year, so we are going to miss them next year. But we are not done yet."
In Friday's game against the Cavaliers, it was a first-half offensive explosion for the Blue Devils. Coach Liz Tchou said it was great to be up 3-0 at halftime. Bischof paced the Blue Devils, notching two goals and one assist in her first game back after recovering from a broken hand.
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