Aug. 25, 2007
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio field hockey team opened its '07 campaign with a 2-1 win over fourth-ranked Duke in the Champions Invitational Tournament on Saturday in Lansing, Mich.
Goals by senior Torrie Albini (Escondido, Calif.) and junior Estienne Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) in the first period gave the `Cats an early 2-0 lead for the win.
"We're really excited about the result," said Head Coach Neil Macmillan. "We were very fortunate to play them early on in the year and it has brought about a great result. They put a lot of pressure on us in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game, but we weathered that storm and started to play some good hockey."
It is Ohio's second win over a ranked opponent in Macmillan's three-year tenure. The Bobcats got an early-season win over then No. 7 Penn State last year.
The Bobcats outshot the Blue Devils 14 to nine and totaled nine corners to the Blue Devil's three. Albini and junior Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) had four shots apiece, sophomore Katelyn Shelley (Ephrata, Pa.) had three shots and freshman Paige Herr (Lancaster, Pa.) made her collegiate debut with two shots. Senior goalie Jessie Martin (Louisville, Ky.) totaled four saves as the winning goalie.
"For us to outshoot and get more corners than a quality team like Duke is a great testimony to our total team effort today," said Macmillan.
Duke entered the season ranked No. 4 in the STX/NFHCA Coaches Poll and has reached the NCAA Final Four for the last four seasons.
The Blue Devils scored their lone goal at the 57:59 mark in the second period by Camille Dagorn. Dagorn finished the game with two shots while Laura Suchoski led the team with three shots.
Ohio faces No. 19 Michigan State tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in the tourney's final day.
"We have to continue the process against Michigan State on tomorrow," said Macmillan. "The tournament championship is on the line and it is going to be tough. We competed well against them last year but they scraped out the win. We have to make sure that we match their intensity and match them all over the field."
