Hockey unable to navigate Wake

It was a tale of two halves for Duke's field hockey team this weekend. 

Visiting Wake Forest, the top-ranked team in the country, took down the No. 5 Blue Devils (4-1, 0-1 in the ACC) by a score of 3-1 Saturday afternoon in front of an overflow crowd of 225 spectators at Duke's Williams Field. 

The Demon Deacons (4-0, 1-0) rode to victory behind the strength of a Wake Forest-controlled second half of play following an even first period.  

After both teams played to a draw in a see-saw first half that ended in a 1-1 tie, the Demon Deacons took over in the second stanza. They spent much of the period on Duke's side of the field, racking up seven shots and nine penalty corners to the Blue Devils' two and zero, respectively.  

According to Morgan, it was frustrating to surrender such a large number of corners after the team discussed how to avoid such a scenario during half-time, said Morgan. 

The Blue Devils were more upset, however, with their departure from successful first half strategies, said head coach Beth Bozman and junior Chrissie Murphy.

"We played, gosh, 45 good minutes and then got a little frantic," Bozman said. "The clock's ticking and we lost a lot of our composure, so it's a 3-1 game because of that. I think if a couple things fall our way--that's a euphemism....

"It's going to be a process. You don't get to being the top team in the country overnight, and we know it's going to be a process. [This season] we get to see them two more times." 

Murphy scored Duke's only goal of the day midway through the first half. Blue Devil defender Gracie Sorbello sent a long pass down the right side of the field to sophomore Katie Grant. Grant then beat her defender and froze the Wake Forest goalie with a pass to Murphy, who put the pass away into the open net.

Murphy and Grant now share the team lead in goals with five apiece. 

The defeat was the first for Duke this season. The Blue Devils entered the game with an undefeated record and with a combined scoring margin of 30-1 but had yet to play a highly-ranked opponent.  

In a season in which Duke hopes to finally break into the top echelon of college teams, Wake Forest was to be the "measuring stick" to gauge how good the Blue Devils really were, Bozman said.  

And while Duke can certainly compete and beat teams like Wake Forest, it has to make sure it does not defeat itself first, she added. 

"But we just need to really figure out how to stay composed and smart for 70 minutes..." Bozman said.  

"I told them that it is a process and that we have to scratch and claw to the top. We've just got to crawl a little bit and scratch a little bit...we have got a ways to go."