Grace Christus Reviews Weekend Results

After two great games this past weekend, there are so many things that assure me that this season will be a great one. After a tactical and intense practice Friday afternoon, my teammates and I were ready for the weekend. Later that evening, we met as a team over some delicious snacks to talk about our goals for Saturday. We sat together and really shared our commitment to leaving everything on the field and having no regrets. That night I laid in my humble abode and confessed to my roommate, “I have a really good feeling about tomorrow.” Before I knew it, I was dining at the Devil’s Den with the team along with four recruits. We got to know them and them us over a hearty breakfast. Finally, 1 o’clock came. As we huddled up before the game, we all knew that it wasn’t about our opponent, where they were from or the color of their uniform, it was about us, about Duke Field Hockey. We battled relentlessly the whole game, connecting passes, out letting and transferring better than ever before. Although we came up short, it was a turning point in our season. It was a new standard for every member of our team and we all agreed that we would only go up from that level of play and continue to improve.

After the game was our tailgate, with delicious wings, pasta salad, fruit and a ton of other food. A significant group of our biggest fans, our parents of course, enjoyed the tailgate as well. We took our recruits to the ever so exciting football game that afternoon, where we watched Duke take on Army. The game was a great experience, we sat right behind the Duke bench so the fabulous seats didn’t hurt. After a long day in the hot Carolina sun, we dined at Elmo’s where I indulged in probably the best BLT I have had in North Carolina (obviously still not as good as the BLTs in New Jersey). The following day, we played Richmond and were victorious. We played well and we played together. We are determined to come out of next weekend’s games with two great wins, knowing that we must put in the work this week at practice.

Aside from field hockey, Duke has been everything I envisioned and more. I love the classes I am taking, a fair amount of reading, but managing my time well is the key and so far so good! I really enjoy my multimedia documentaries class, it focuses on photography and how images are used in projects like documentaries or simply to tell a story. It is a bonus that my roommate and two other field hockey freshmen happen to be in the class. Most of my meals are enjoyed at the Marketplace, which is the cafeteria for students on East Campus. It makes my day when I walk into the dining hall and see that pasta with a choice of red sauce or Alfredo sauce is being served. After dinner, I also enjoy some of their delicious blueberry pie al a mode. It is also very common for my roommate and I to order Jimmy Johns subs as a midnight snack, it makes the late night studying a little more enjoyable.

With the team looking better and growing everyday and school going great, my start here at Duke has been made of a lot of work but with truly unparalleled rewards. This coming weekend promises two great games and I can’t wait to be a part of it.

-Grace

Samantha Nelson Senior Profile

- What is the best thing about being a Duke field hockey player?
Samantha Nelson: Having our own facility. It’s one of the nicest things and very unique to our team. Sometimes I wish it was a little more accessible to the rest of the student body rather than just the freshmen, but I think it’s really nice to be able to have our own field.
- What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?

SN: Since rooming with my teammate Susan [Ferger], she is an ESPN Sportscenter guru, I really like watching football.

-What is your favorite sport to play other than field hockey?

SN: I really liked soccer when I was younger. I’ve been a single-sport athlete for a number of years now, but I definitely loved soccer.

-Do you have any pre-game superstitions?

SN: Not really. I usually try to take a moment to myself in the locker room just to pull my thoughts together. It’s always really loud and people are laughing and talking, music’s playing, but I think it’s important to have a moment to yourself to collect your thoughts and focus.

-What do you watch on TV?

SN: I guess True Blood is my new TV obsession right now. There’s not so much time for TV during the school year.

-What do you have on your iPod?

SN: My favorite song right now is Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap. I’m one of those people, who, when they like a song, just plays it over and over and over again for two weeks straight, which is another thing my roommate would tell you drives her crazy about me.

-What was your first job?

SN: I’ve coach field hockey before at Duke camps, but my first in-the-workforce job was this past summer. I worked for a lobbying firm in Washington D.C. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it.

-Who has had the biggest impact on your life?

SN: I’d have to say my family, specifically my brother. Anybody who’s not an only child can definitely say that their siblings have had a big impact on their life and how they grow up. My little brother, Taylor, we’re about four years apart, but we’ve gotten to an age where we can be friends.

-Who is the best cook in your family?

SN: Definitely my mom, and my teammates can all tell you this because she cooks for my team and for tailgates. That’s one of the things I missed most when I started college, home-cooked meals.

-What is your favorite home-cooked meal?

SN: My mom makes incredible lemon chicken.

-What is your favorite snack?

SN: I guess this is sort of because I’m in college and it’s really easy to eat, but whenever I’m hungry I always eat bananas with peanut butter.

-What has been your favorite class at Duke?

SN: I’ve had a couple, but this semester I’m taking American Business History, which is probably the most reading I’ve ever had to do for a history class. It’s really interesting. It’s one of those classes where it’s just like reading a story that is really dramatic and never-ending; I really enjoy it.

-What has been your toughest class at Duke?

SN: Last year I had an International Relations class where we had to write a 25-page research paper and that was my first big paper in college. That was definitely the most consecutive hours I’ve ever spent in the library the week that I had all my midterms and my research paper was due. It was a marathon.

-What will you miss most about the university after graduation?

SN: Everything. I really enjoy the lifestyle of just being a student. I love being able to go to class, meet friends for lunch, then going to practice. Just walking around the Duke campus and walking to class is a pleasure, so I guess I will also miss the scenery.

Mary Nielsen Recaps Weekend with Literary Review

The Duke field hockey team went 1-1 this past weekend, falling to No. 8 Wake Forest on sudden-victory penatly strokes before rebounding with a 2-1 overtime victory against No. 13 Drexel. Sophomore Mary Nielsen provides a literary review of the weekend's events.

Buried in my Latin textbook, my mind wandered whimsically - I contemplated key elements to this past weekend, DUFH's third week in season. The only idea milling about stood adamantly between my pen and the paper, its origins deep in ancient Rome; and so, with conviction, I clung to it, fighting not the air or art of inspiration as I shall share such with you now.

The phrase I had just translated "Pulchras est sevire" - to serve is beautiful. If I could find a word to supplement "each other" in Latin, I would place it into this sentence, but I don't yet know how to delicately weave together ripe observations of human nature like Ovid, so let's just assume it's in there.

As much of a tragedy Saturday's game was, it was a beautiful tragedy. As Jack says, "collegiate athletes of today are the poet warriors of the past;" I dare someone to disagree. Pouring down rain, knees bleeding, wrists practically broken, emotions effusively pulsing through our veins - how could it not be romantic? And with such verve and ardent energy, how could we not get something out of it, in slight, a realization?

A game of attrition, we played on and on at Wake. From Chels' diving goal with twenty seconds left to tie the game up, to a moment of pure agony within the last minute of double overtime, when I was blasphemously crushed upon the turf, by not only a defender's entire body mass but her goalie's, as well. This action was of course by the opposing team, so it felt even worse than you could somewhat relate to. I only took a small amount of the Blue Devils' beatings, however. Young Megan had a near fractured wrist, Miss Stefanie had fallen after the game with calf cramps, and dear Rhian of Philadelphia had more bruises on her legs and gluteus maximus than a red head has freckles. And yet the game went forth, from strokes to sudden death strokes.

Wet with defeat, we were forced to accept the outcome - a loss, our first ever, in strokes. It became a part of who we were, though it did not define who we will become, who we have become. Jarred spoke to us all in our final huddle at Wake, about how well we had worked together: "You win as a team, and you die as a team," he had said.

With a new day was a new life, and we were ready to rise from the ashes, giving the Drexel Dragons more than they could ever hope to face. Our first home game was fueled with a parent/team breakfast at the Devil's Den where in good company we prepared for our last battle of the weekend. One word was on our mind, regardless how and what we would do to get there: win. Despite another overtime encounter we emerged victorious, and rightfully so.

The parents' support could only be rivaled by the columns of the parthenon - with grace, beauty and standing, without question, through all weather. With the parents' presence came that of food, which was provided, and deliciously devoured by hungry members of the DUFH community. With another weekend gone comes another week's preparation. And the words of the wise will not be forgotten - to serve is a beautiful thing, not only serving to each other but for each other. I digress.

- Mary

Freshman Ashley Camano Discusses Transition to Duke

The Blue Devils moved to 3-1 on the year after sweeping Longwood and No. 12 James Madison this past weekend. Duke opens ACC play Saturday, September 11 at No. 8 Wake Forest. A month into her collegiate career, freshman Ashley Camano discusses her transition to life at Duke University.

On August 10, 2010, I finally set foot into my dorm room at Duke University. This event would be exciting under any circumstances at any college for any student, but for me and the seven other freshmen field hockey players, this meant so much more than just a new bed to lie in at night. This meant the start of our careers on the Duke University field hockey team, a trip down a thrilling road, something that few people can partake in.

After a full day comparable to Christmas morning, receiving a full new wardrobe of Duke field hockey attire and accessories, it was time to get to work. The sole thing I could think about as I lay in bed that night was the inception of preseason – a double session of ROTC training with Colonel Mark Tribus. I had heard rumblings of the sort of drills we would be partaking in during our time with Colonel Tribus and I’d trained all summer for preseason, but didn’t know what I could possibly be getting myself into during the next few weeks.

Despite a physically and mentally exhausting time with Colonel Tribus, I realized that the ROTC training could not have come at a better time than it did. As the first day of preseason wound down and I sorely laid in my unfamiliar bed again on that following night, I realized that the team I worked with could very well, and already began to on that stifling hot day, become a family away from home to me.

Preseason continued and eventually the double session days became single session days (of course after experiencing our first away match in a scrimmage against Wake Forest and our first home scrimmage against North Carolina), and soon enough, there was nothing on my mind but our first weekend of real game play - the trip to Michigan to play Louisville and Michigan State. Every week there’s something else to look forward to and I can’t wait to experience all of these exciting events.

After nearly a month now, I can feel myself already making incredible new friends in my fellow teammates and I truly believe I’m learning something new and worthwhile everyday. Whether it be learning a new skill from the coaching staff, hearing a humorous story in the locker room before practice about someone’s mishaps during the day, or learning that I can always count on Susan Ferger to listen to pump-up country music with me before a game, I know that Duke is where I want to be, and where I’m meant to be.

Although being nearly eight hours from home posed a frightening hurdle, I have found myself too busy, too energized, and too excited to be homesick (sorry, Mom and Dad). Though at times grueling and daunting, looking down at my jersey and seeing the letters D-U-K-E screened across it during practice make all the sweat and bruises worthwhile – Duke field hockey is a team of ‘we not me,’ and the drive from my fellow teammates is enough to push me much further than I could ever imagine.

- Ashley

Susan Ferger Recaps Duke's Opening Weekend

Senior Susan Ferger recaps Duke’s season-opening weekend at the Champions Challenge in East Lansing, Mich.

After an intense preseason filled with ROTC, team bonding and scrimmages, it was finally time for our first weekend of games. We flew up to Detroit on Thursday evening, met our bus driver and headed to East Lansing. We ate dinner at an Olive Garden along the way, where we celebrated Rhian Jones’ 20th birthday. The entire restaurant sang to her, and the team got to enjoy the cake they provided. After a day of travel, everyone was tired and grateful for time to sleep in on Friday.

Friday began with a fantastic team breakfast. We traveled over to the field for practice and spent some time going over our strategy for the game. After practice we had time to explore the campus of Michigan State and see what it had to offer. We all enjoyed the down time before heading to our next meal. For dinner, we were lucky enough to go to one of my favorite restaurants in the world! The Italian restaurant, Bravo! originally from Columbus, Ohio has been one of my favorite places to eat since I can remember. Needless to say, the food was delicious and we were fueled and ready for our opening game.

Saturday’s game was an exciting battle back and forth. Though it took two overtimes, we finally won the game - starting our season off right. It took awhile to come down from the excitement of the game, many of us headed to the pool to soak our bodies and start the rejuvenation process. Saturday night, we went to a cute restaurant that used to be a train station. I had one of my favorite meals, a turkey sandwich, and enjoyed the historical atmosphere. There was a train car out front where we posed for some photos before heading back to the hotel for a good night of rest.

Sunday wasn’t our day, and after a hard fought game, we ended with a 1-0 loss. We were able to generate a lot of attack but we just couldn’t finish. The good news is that it is the first weekend, so we can fix things now and be ready for the rest of the season. After the game it was time to head back to Durham, though it seemed no one else wanted us to get home. Our flight was delayed for three hours, but luckily Detroit is a nice airport, and surprisingly full of celebrities. On our way there, we spotted Anna Paquin of True Blood, and on our way home we saw actress Hayden Panettiere and golfer Tom Watson.

The weekend might not have been perfect, but it was successful in the sense that we know what we need to work on and we can fix what needs to be fixed before our next game. It was a fun first away trip with all of our new teammates, and I am excited with what’s to come this season.

- Susan