Lady Flames stun Wake Forest
Field hockey team upsets the nation’s No. 12 team to begin a six-game homestand
The Lady Flames field hockey team pulled out an impressive home win against the 12th- ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons Friday, Sept. 19 with a close score
of 2-1.
Passing — Cassidy Bremner (16) looks to recieve a pass from teammate Natalie Barr. Photo credit: Ellie Fraser
Liberty entered the contest with strong momentum following a 3-2 comeback win against the University of Pennsylvania Sunday, Sept. 14. The Lady Flames were able to collect their second straight win and improve to 3-4 on the season. The Demon Deacons fell to 4-3 on the season with the loss.
The Lady Flames maintained a strong defensive presence throughout the entire game. The first period ended in a 0-0 tie against a tough Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent.
Two minutes into the second period, Wake Forest senior Anna Kozniuk scored the first goal of the game on an assist from Jess Newak and Christine Conroe.
Wake was not able to hold the lead for long, as Liberty junior forward Sarah Gipe was able to knock in her third goal of the season, unassisted, to tie up the contest.
“It felt really great just to be able to come back and answer one of their goals,” Gipe said. “We’ve been working on tipping and just being smart in the circle, so it was awesome to see that pay off.”
Both teams continued to be aggressive in a back-and-forth second period. Liberty finished with 12 total shots, and Wake was right behind them with a total of 10.
The game remained tied until Liberty junior forward Ashlee Krulock scored her second goal of the season on an assist from junior midfielder Erin Dombach. Krulock’s goal came in the 64th minute and proved to be the game winner, as Wake was unable to respond.
“Last year, we were in the same situation, but they ended up coming back and scoring on us,” Krulock said. “But this year, we were able to finish it out and know what we needed to do and learn from last year and hold out (to) win. We didn’t let up any five minutes.”
Coach Jodi Murphy, in her fourth season with the team, believes they played their best game of the season against the ranked Demon Deacons.
“Today we put all the pieces together and we played a great game for 70 full minutes and we saw the result fall our way,” Murphy said.
Murphy praised the home crowd of 173 for their continued support throughout the season.
“These fans have been so good to us over the last couple of years. … This is the first time that we’ve beaten an ACC team, and to do it at home is really powerful,” Murphy said.
The Lady Flames followed up their big win against Wake Forest with a 7-1 thumping of Missouri State on Sept. 21. Six different Lady Flames scored, with Gipe notching two scores.
The Lady Flames will take on Ohio and Louisville at home next week, hoping to add to their two-game win streak.
CARTER is a sports reporter