Wake Forest successfully defended its Division I Field Hockey Championship title, downing Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke, 3-1, November 23 at Massachusetts.

The Demon Deacons, whose back-to-back crowns are the first since North Carolina did it in 1996 and 1997, began the scoring with a goal from Katie Ackerman off a Kelly Doton assist. Wake Forest pushed the lead to 2-0 less than three minutes later when Ackerman scored on a feed from Kelly Wood.

After halftime, Duke, which was making its first championship-game appearance, turned up the pressure and closed to within one when Gracie Sorbello buried her 23rd goal on the year off a penalty corner just six minutes in. But with just over seven minutes left, Kristi Harshman's fifth score of the year off a penalty corner from Claire Laubach returned the Demon Deacons to their comfortable margin.

Wake Forest coach Jennifer Averill said she challenged her team to match Duke's passion.

"It was just an outstanding game," she said. "I really felt that Duke possessed a lot of passion in the game, and you could see it in their play and their players and their coaching staff. I wanted us to make sure that we matched that and then rose to another level. I'm just really proud of this group."

Duke had the edge in penalty corners and shots, but Blue Devils head coach Beth Bozman said her team's inability to put together two strong halves may have reflected the lack of experience in championship play.

"I think one of our strengths has always been our corners and we just didn't score as much as we would've liked to today," she said. "Obviously we're very disappointed that we didn't put together two good halves. I guess it shows a little bit of our lack of experience being in this situation with just not playing our game in the first half, but really playing strong in the second half. That doesn't negate the tremendous things that we did this year and we're very, very proud of this team."

Wake Forest advanced to the title game after defeating Michigan, 1-0, in the semifinals. The Demon Deacons closed the season 22-1. Duke finished the 2003 campaign with a 20-4 mark. The Blue Devils earned a pass into the championship game after a 4-2 semifinal victory against Maryland.

Wake Forest's Maeke Boreel, Lucy Shaw and Katie Ridd joined teammates Ackerman, Doton and Laubach on the all-tournament team. Sorbello, Katie Grant and Chrissie Murphy of Duke, Maryland's Paula Infante and Katy Moyner of Michigan also were selected.

Semifinals

Second half: WF -- Claire Laubach (Kelly Doton), 47:40.

Shots: Wake Forest 8, Michigan 4. Goalkeeper saves: Wake Forest (Katie Ridd) 0, Michigan (Beth Riley) 2. Penalty corners: Wake Forest 6, Michigan 2.

First half: D -- Gracie Sorbello (Johanna Bischof), 1:44; D -- Katie Grant (unassisted), 2:45; D -- Chrissie Murphy (Johanna Bischof), 15:23.

Second half: M -- Colleen Barbieri, 55:51; D -- Kim Van Kirk (Hilary Linton), 63:40; D -- Barbieri (Amber McQuillan), 64:53.

Shots: Duke 9, Maryland 7. Goalkeeper saves: Duke (Christy Morgan) 2, Maryland (Tori Cano) 5. Penalty corners: Duke 6, Maryland 2.

Championship

First half: WF -- Katie Ackerman (Kelly Doton), 10:39; WF -- Ackerman (Kelly Wood) 13:45.

Second half: D -- Gracie Sorbello (Katie Grant, Johanna Bischof), 41:05; WF -- Kristi Harshman (unassisted), 62:54.

Shots: Wake Forest 11, Duke 13. Goalkeeper saves: Wake Forest (Katie Ridd) 4, Duke (Christy Morgan) 7. Penalty corners: Wake Forest 6, Duke 9.