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Wake Forest rips American in field hockey
Deacons use big edge in penalty corners to win tournament opener 7-1
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Published: November 16, 2008
Wake Forest sent a barrage of penalty corners at American University yesterday, cruising to a 7-1 win in the first round of the NCAA field-hockey tournament at blustery Kentner Stadium.
It was so windy early in the first half that the goal blew backward and officials had to re-set it with weights.
The Deacons (20-3), the No. 2 seed, converted four of their nine penalty-corner opportunities to easily defeat the overmatched Eagles (13-8).
The Eagles reached the NCAA Tournament by defeating Bucknell 5-2 in the Patriot League final and Lock Haven 2-0 in the NCAA play-in game last Monday.
Wake Forest will now play Virginia, which defeated James Madison 2-1 yesterday in the other first-round game, today at Kentner Stadium at 2 p.m.
Today's game will be the third time these teams have met in the NCAA Tournament. Wake Forest won 5-1 in the second round in 2001, and defeated Virginia 3-2 in the second round in 2006. Both matches were at Wake Forest.
Wake Forest was coming off a 4-3 loss to No. 1 Maryland in last weekend's ACC Tournament championship.
The Deacons started quickly, showing no ill effects from the loss to the Terrapins. Hilary Moore, who scored two goals for the Deacons, gave them a 1-0 lead at 1:12 on an assist from Raisa Schiller.
The penalty corner came as no surprise because coming into yesterday's game, Wake Forest had 156 penalty corners, 42 more than its opponents.
American came right back and was awarded a penalty stroke at 13:27. Anne-Meike DeWiljes converted the penalty, slamming it past goalkeeper Crystal Duffield to tie the game at 1.
After that it was all Wake Forest. It missed on a penalty corner at 18:58, but Minou Gimbrere picked up the rebound and powered it past goalkeeper Alyssa Poorman for a 2-1 lead.
Gimbrere added another goal off a penalty corner at 23:26, which was assisted by Michelle Kasold and Melissa Martin.
"I was pleased to have a great performance against an incredibly talented American team," Coach Jennifer Averill of Wake Forest said. "I just thought the difference was certainly in our corner execution, being able to convert.
"We were making some bad decisions in the backfield that, fortunately for us, American didn't capitalize on. We salvaged some recklessness out of it, and then continued to attack."
The Deacons did continue to push forward and scored with 4:45 left in the first half. Kasold caught a loose ball at the top of the circle and pushed it high over Poorman's head for a 4-1 lead.
"I think, because we have a fair amount of youth in some places, they were able to get a couple goals in a row after we had some good moments," Coach Steve Jennings of American said. "I think that got us back on our heels, and then we made a really poor turnover. That led to a direct goal, the fourth goal right at the half. That differential of 3-1 vs. 4-1 at the half was a huge psychological blow and just gave them so much more of the ascendency. Wake just kept pouring it on, and we had a hard time recovering from it."
In the second game yesterday,
Traci Ragukas scored what proved to be the winning shot to help Virginia defeat James Madison 2-1. Ragukas scored at 34:58 on a rebound from a penalty corner for a 2-1 lead.
Virginia (14-8) took a 1-0 lead at 8:41 when Floor Vogels scored on a penalty corner off assists from Pien Hulsebosch and Kaitlyn Hiltz.
James Madison (18-3), which defeated Virginia 1-0 early in the season, tied it at 32:18 when Lindsay Cutchins scored on an assist from Melissa Stefaniak.
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