Field Hockey Falls to Duke in Champions Invitational Final

Aug. 28, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Not all early season losses are a bad thing. That's the way Michigan State field hockey coach Michele Madison viewed Sunday's 3-0 loss to Duke in the Champions Invitational final.

"A lot of good things came from today. We have to get smarter and we saw some things we have to do better. When you win, you don't always do everything right and when you lose, you don't always do everything wrong," Madison stated.

Duke struck twice in the first period, at 13:10 and 15:38, but Michigan State was able to hang with the Blue Devils for much of the second half. The Spartans silenced Duke until 58:53, when it recorded its final goal. Senior Christina Kirkaldy recorded seven saves on the day for the Spartans.

"For 20 minutes, we played like we had to; we played well enough to beat a team like Duke;" said Madison. "Our seniors stepped it up again and played very well today. We have two months to catch up and we're going to take positives away from this."

Michigan State will look to rebound from Sunday's loss when it travels to California Sept. 2-5, facing California, Pacific, and Stanford.