Second Double-Overtime Game Lands Duke In Third Straight Final Four

Sunday, November 13

Princeton, N.J.

2 p.m.

Duke University

Connecticut (Second Round)

Ness, Grant Named To ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team

Second Double-Overtime Game Lands Duke In Third Straight Final Four

11/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score 2005 Season Statistics

By: Duke Sports Information

Princeton, N.J. ? The No. 4 Duke field hockey team earned its third straight trip to the NCAA Final Four Sunday, topping Connecticut, 3-2, in the Blue Devils' second double-overtime contest in two days. Senior Katie Grant and junior Hilary Linton tag-teamed with 1:18 off the clock in the second sudden-death overtime to advance the squad.

"I thought we played very well," said head coach Beth Bozman. "We had a lot of opportunities that didn't fall, but we stuck to our game plan and kept persevering, and finally it fell."

UConn took an early lead, opening the scoring in the first two minutes with an unassisted Kristin Galuski goal. The first half battle saw 7-4 shots in Duke's favor as the Blue Devils controlled corners, 7-1, but the Duke answer to the Huskies' goal wouldn't come until the final minute of the the first stanza.

On its final penalty corner of the half, Grant pushed the ball in to junior Cara-Lynn Lopresti, who slid it left to freshman Julie Tromp. Tromp quickly yielded the ball to sophomore Marcy Burns, who passed back to Tromp to knife into the goal with 49 seconds remaining.

The back-and-forth action at the beginning of the second half had difficulty making it to the goal. With 17:31 to go in regulation, Grant took the first shot for either team in nine minutes, turning a reverse shot into a goal and giving the Blue Devils their first lead.

UConn came back five minutes later, however, as Lauren Aird took a pass off a corner, to match Duke at 2-2. Duke stopped three more opportunities by the Huskies, as goalie Christy Morgan saved a shot with eight and a half minutes to go and a shot by Lizzy Peijs was blocked 30 seconds later. With 5:30 to go, Morgan cleared a ball Aird was trying to bring into the Duke circle. Linton sailed a ball just wide of the net with 35 seconds left in a last attempt to avoid overtime.

The Blue Devils and Huskies battled back and forth through the first overtime, with the Duke defense denying several opportunities for UConn to score. Just 40 seconds in, UConn drew a corner, and a Laura Puddle pass found its way into dangerous territory near the goal, where sophomore Shayna McGeehan jumped in to clear it. Halfway through the first extra period, Rebecca Helwig took a swing, but Morgan batted the ball down for Tromp to clear.

The second overtime would not be as long for the Blue Devils as it was Saturday against Princeton. Just 1:18 into the period, on the UConn side of the field, Linton sent a pass to mid-circle, where an open Grant knocked it into the goal, giving Duke the sudden-death victory with her second goal of the game.

"It was a really hard fought game by both teams," said Grant. "I was very proud of our team. We showed a lot of heart and a lot of emotion."

Morgan played the entire 86:18, logging four saves. Duke out-shot the Huskies, 17-11, and led, 13-8, in penalty corners. UConn's Melissa Bostwick recorded seven saves.

The Blue Devils will head to Louisville, Ky., Friday, where they will face second-seeded Wake Forest in the NCAA semifinals. Third-seeded Duke was one of four seeded teams to advance to the final four, as top-seed Maryland will battle fourth-seed Old Dominon Friday as well.

-d-u-k-e-