The No. 20 AU field hockey team had a strong showing against No. 3 Wake Forest, but it wasn’t enough to walk away with a win Sunday afternoon, as the Eagles lost 1-0.
In a physical match where any one play could have been the difference maker, a second half goal by Demon Deacon Lauren Greenwald proved to be the game winner.
The Eagles came out looking relatively sharp in the first half. Early momentum is slowly becoming a staple of their play, as AU controlled the first half and was constantly attacking the Demon Deacon net, outshooting Wake Forest 6-1. The Eagles could not capitalize on their possession and went into halftime still knotted up at one.
“We had some good opportunities and maybe could’ve positioned a little bit for the rebounds,” said Associate Head Coach Sarah Thorn Krombolz. “Overall, you just have to put your head down and score the ones that you can.”
The Eagles built on their strong start at the beginning of the second half. Five minutes into the second half, AU created a great scoring opportunity with a through pass that snuck right past the sliding AU attack and went out of bounds.
“We definitely need to work on the details in the circle,” junior Christine Fingerhuth said, “Whether it’s being able to get more shots or get some more corners, we just need to make better decisions.”
Wake Forest responded quickly to AU’s scoring chance with an opportunity of its own. On a Demon Deacon penalty corner, the ball rebounded off the AU defense to Wake Forest forward Lauren Greenwald, who put it past goalie Alyssa Poorman into the corner of the cage. The Eagles mustered a few chances later on in the half, but the Demon Deacons were able to maintain their one goal lead, thanks to a solid defense and great saves by goalie Kaitlyn Ruhf.
“We’re definitely upset that we lost, but it was definitely a step up from last weekend; we’re just steadily improving,” said junior Kirstin Gebhart. “It was a well played game, but it’s always disappointing to lose.”
The Eagles have little time to recover from this loss and are already looking forward to tomorrow’s highly anticipated game against University of Maryland, currently ranked No. 1 in the country. Despite their high ranking, senior Alyssa Poorman seemed confident that the team can pull off the upset.
“I don’t think we have to do anything to beat them other than just play our game,” she said. “If we just play our game, stick to the fundamentals, and clean up the small details, I think we should come out on top.”
Action against UMD will start at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Jacobs Field and is the last non-conference game for the Eagles before they begin conference play at Holy Cross next week.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
