They pushed around 13th-ranked Duke in a monsoon and deflated 7th-ranked UNC on the road. But after winning six straight games and defeating three ACC opponents in a row the focus for Head Coach Jen Averill's 3rd-ranked field hockey team is not on winning the National Championship, but rather, their next opponent.

"Our focus right now is Harvard, we are not even focusing on UMass right now, we will focus on UMass Saturday night," Averill said. "We're really proud of our accomplishments, but I think we are also very well-educated in that we enjoy the victory and then wake up and see the next opponent in front of us."

On Sept. 27 the Deacons defeated Duke 3-0 and extended their home winning streak to 18 games. The Deacs came out crisp and scored in the first five minutes of the game when freshman Maeke Boreel took a pass from sophomore Kelly Dostal on a penalty corner and rattled the cage. The score would remain 1-0 heading into halftime as both defenses held strong for the remainder of the first half.

During halftime, a brief, but torrential downpour left the field saturated. It appeared as if the wet conditions would inhibit scoring chances for either team, but the Deacs erased such assumptions when senior Maria Whitehead found junior Kelly Doton off a penalty corner to make the score 2-0 with 8:58 left in the game. Junior Lucy Shaw then capped off the win with an unassisted goal in the 68th minute of play to give the Deacs a 3-0 victory.

"In the second half I had some concerns because I thought the puddles which caused the field to slow down would be a neutralizer for us and play into Duke's favor," Averill said. "We did not have as much space as we would have liked to have, we were not transferring as well as we should have and defensively we were caught flat-footed, but coming away with a victory and not playing your best against an ACC opponent, you'll take that and run." Junior goalkeeper Katie Ridd made four saves in the win, while Duke's Erica Perrier made 10. The Deacons out shot the Blue Devils, 19-6 and had ten penalty corners, to just three for Duke.

Last season Wake Forest defeated UNC in all three of their meetings. This season the Deacs picked up where they left off in handing the Tar Heels a 2-1 loss in Chapel Hill on Sept. 29.

Uncharacteristic of Averill's team, the Tar Heels managed to score first when senior Meredith Keller took a feed off a penalty corner from classmate Stephanie Fuller and scored with 15 minutes remaining in the first half.

The lead would last briefly, however, as the Deacs struck back just a minute later when sophomore Claire Laubach scored off a pass from Shaw. The first half would end with the score knotted at 1-1.

"It was huge character building when they scored and then we turned right around a minute later and scored right away, that was the game right there," Averill said.

The Deacs would take the lead for good in the 50th minute of play when Dostal took Laubach's pass and found the back of the net for her fourth game-winning goal of the season.

"That was a huge win on the road and I think as much as we were gunning for Maryland this year, the same could be said for Carolina against us," Averill said. "We had swept them last year and so they had a huge appetite for us."

Ridd made a season-high nine saves in the win, while Carolina keeper Amy Tran stopped 10 shots. Wake Forest outshot UNC, 14-13, but lost the penalty corner battle, earning 10 corners to Carolina's 11.

Ridd's weekend performance in both games earned her the ACC player of the week award which is something Averill is quite pleased about.

"It is nice to have her recognized because she is a tribute to our success," Averill said. "I have said it before, our attack is going to score goals, but if we want to play late in November it is going to be the goalkeeping that makes a difference."

Wake Forest will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Cambridge, Mass., to take on the Harvard Crimson at 1 p.m.The Deacs are currently on a roll heading into the game against Harvard, but in Averill's eyes the team's potential has yet to be seen.